The dispossessed
by natural selection
Summary: "I think I may have found a way to get the remnant out of Tanith. Other than doctor Nye that is."  When Valkyrie finds the means to rid Tanith of the remnant residing in her, she grabs at the chance. Set up to 'The Mortal Coil'. Discontinued until further notice, sorry.
1. Goodbye Bentley

**Rated T for the occasional use of strong language, innuendos and (barely) sexual scenes.**

**Written before the release of 'Death Bringer' so any plots, themes and changes in character that occur in the book have not happened in this and probably won't. (tl;dr, Caelan is much more kickass as this goes along!)**

**This is slow starting, but please bear with it! Enjoy ^^**

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><p>A pair of heels slammed down on the floor almost hard enough to leave a dent. The heel's owner was a young woman whom went by the name of Zenobia Triton with brown hair slicked back into a tight bun and dark brown eyes, framed with lashes that at the moment were sending a look of fury out to all those unfortunate enough to be in her path. The click clack filled the corridors as she marched towards the room where the council of elders were sat.<p>

Slamming her fist down onto the desk in front of her she cried, "_C'est vrai_?"

"S'il vous plaît, Madame." One of the men sat at the desk said as he tried to calm her in his soothing tones, speaking French as the rest of the people in the room were, for indeed, they were in Switzerland. "It is for the best."

"For the best? You're moving an ancient magical artefact that could break at any second to Sweden for crying out loud!" Zenobia then giggled, slightly hysterical as she ran the situation through her mind once more. Okay, so she was playing it up more than a little; the artefact in mention was in perfectly good shape and as unlikely to suddenly crumble back into its original atoms as she was. But still, what they were suggesting was stupid and she wasn't going to stand for it. "It should remain where it has always stayed, in Mont-sur-Château!"

"Madame Triton," The elder massaged his forehead in exasperation. Clearly Zenobia was known for her quick temper. "We understand that the artefact that significant value to your villages heritage, but please, keep your temper under control! You're burning the table, which is far older and valuable that you could dream." Zenobia finally noticed how her hands had flames flickering over them and were scorching the table with neat, black shapes of clenched knuckles. Slightly embarrassed, as she had never been good at controlling her magic when she was pissed, she removed her hands from the desk, folding them in front of her. "We are not just a group of old men and women trying to hoard away your ancient villages heritage for fun. We are the Swiss sanctuary, and it is our job, no, _duty_ to protect our countries magical heritage.

'I'm afraid I'll have to put a deadline on it. If you do not let us remove it by the end of the monsth, then we will have to remove it by force. And trust us when we say this, that we do not want to do that."

"It is for the best. Fear not, it shall be in safe hands. It will be far better protected with us than it was in your vaults. Don't take that personally." Another elder assured in their sickly sweet and eager to please voice. It was patronising, insulting and Zenobia hated it. She was forty-seven, for crying out loud! Sure, she didn't look a day over twenty-five, but that still didn't give them the right to speak to her as if she was an air headed baby. She was a highly skilled elemental, especially in the area of fire and was fed up of getting no acknowledgement from them for her talents. She could be out there right now fighting and locking up criminals, you know, just generally kicking butt if not for the group of stuck up, pompous elders in front of her. 'Not enough experience' they'd say. Well, if they never let her _prove_ herself then she'd never get any experience would she?

But that was another matter and completely irrelevant. Her tiny village, Mont-sur-Château, was located in an incredibly obscure part of Western Switzerland and boasted a rich array of magic users. And by rich she meant ten in a village of one-hundred-and-twenty, Zenobia included. Yet it was rare in the fact that the non-magic inhabitants knew of the existence of magic.

"Sorry, sorry! She stormed off ahead… _again_." A second magician of her village apologized as she hurried in , brushing down her immaculate suit and adjusting a pair of glasses on her nose. "I sincerely apologize for anything offensive she may have said in the short period of time she was here." This of course meaning that as soon as they returned to their village she would be severely punished for being so rude to the countries elders.

"Quite." One such elder mumbled.

"So. As I'm sure Zebobia here… mentioned, we of Mont-sur-Château seriously think that you should reconsider your plan to move the relics into your care. We've looked after them for hundreds of years without a single break in. Do not underestimate our capability to protect them." The magician the fixed the elders with a stern look whilst pushing her glasses up again.

"Please. We are in no way suggesting that you cannot protect them. We are merely stating that they would be protected _better_ here. We have hundreds of artefacts in our care. Please, let the specialists deal with it."

And so the debate when on in a similar fashion for another couple of hours until the Mont-sur-Château magicians finally gave in and retreated. A month later four priceless magical artefacts made their way up to the Swiss sanctuary by a highly guarded train weaving its way along obscure routes through the mountains of Switzerland. When the train arrived only three of the artefacts remained and great deal of the guards were knocked unconscious, and violently as well. The ones that weren't were either tied up and gagged in the toilets or… worse. Some of the guards would not, _could_ not wake up.

Needless to say, it wasn't a great day for the Swiss sanctuary.

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><p>Water droplets tumbled through the sky before smashing relentlessly onto the windscreen of a silver car. The sound these raindrops made collectively drowned out the silence in the Bentley, yet did little to remove the awkwardness, serving only to create pointless conversation that would have been better off left unsaid.<p>

"Terrible weather we're experiencing. I'd wager that it's been getting worse these past few weeks." the famous skeleton detective, Skulduggery Pleasant, offered.

The dark haired teen sat in the seat beside him simply replied, "That would be because it's now November, Skulduggery."

"Ah. That would explain it."

And thus, the rest of the journey was spent in a far more sensible hush. The car leapt and shook on the rural Irish 'road', causing the owner to wince at each pothole they went over. In an ideal world they'd be travelling to their location on a perfectly smooth road, yet knowing the state of local politics, the best they were going to get would be a few hastily done patch up jobs when only pedestrians could travel over it without getting jarred.

Seemingly endless fields of brown fuzz and grey skies passed them by before they reached their destination: a small and disused barn with a roof more hole that tile. At this Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, a little confused at his choice before asking, "Okay, I know we're going for a low profile but… this looks like it could collapse at any minute. In fact, I'm scared to even _breathe_ on it."

"But that's the beauty of it. It seems like it's about to collapse, when in _reality_-" Skulduggery explained before his apprentice kicked in.

"It's about to collapse?"

Now, Valkyrie was fairly certain that if Skulduggery had any lips to purse, he would have done so. After over five years tagging along with the skeleton she'd gradually learned how to read him… well, most of the time anyway. Instead, the detective chose to hop out the car and swing open the wide doors to the barn, shocking a few nesting birds into shrieking out. The Bentley was driven gently inside, parked in one of the far corners were the building looked most stable. For a while he just sat in the car, taking in the smell, feel and general air of the car that turned it from a Bentley into _the_ Bentley. This was the car that had gotten them around a vast portion of Ireland and out of too many tight spots to count on both hands and toes.

Valkyrie stood just a few steps away from the car, watching his every move as if waiting for an indication of what to do. Eventually he got out, locked the doors with a smooth flick of the wrist and joined her in front of it. It seemed smaller somehow, as if it was finally getting a well deserved rest. A retirement of sorts. Yet she then realised that it was in fact pretty off for someone to think such things about an inanimate object. The silver paint was a little scratched in more than several places, a large dent was smacked into the rear and the entire car exuded an odd odour that could be smelt from several metres away when running. But it was still their Bentley, and she knew undoubtedly that she was going to miss it.

They'd gotten a false lead on a method to extract remnants from people who'd been infected for even over the four day limit. They'd turned up to the location only to be attacked and ambushed, forced into a retreat, albeit a dramatic, fireball hurling retreat. Skulduggery and Valkyrie turned out fine from the attack, other than the odd bruise on the magician who still had skin and a very large bruise on both of their bruises. However, the Bentley had not gotten off so lightly and they'd decided finally to give it a dignified retirement.

"I didn't invite anyone. They'll have better things to do than witness the burial of the Bentley." he shrugged, an odd action for a skeleton. She wondered if it was odd for him to say words like 'burial' since he was essentially an animated collection of dead bones, but enough of such odd thoughts. Resting a hand on the bonnet, Skulduggery simply stared at the car for a while, taking it in further, or rather zoning out which she imagined was fairly easy for someone who technically didn't have a brain. He then turned to Valkyrie, fixing his eyeless sockets on her, "Any last words?"

"Well, um… I've never been to a car funeral before so… You were a great car. Without you we would have been long dead by now… several times over. I'll miss you. No doubt every other car we'll get will either be some atrocious colour or lack your… uh, elegance. Yeah…" she cleared her throat awkwardly, relieved when she saw him nod in approval of what she had said.

"I'll visit." he said simply and then walked out with Valkyrie hot on his heels. When they had left the barn he muttered, "You can call Fletcher now."

The very second he picked up the phone, allowing her to say a dull sounding 'hey' he appeared, his hair as big and ridiculous as always. He wore a very self-satisfied smirk. He was the best-looking thing around in a fifty-kilometre radius and he knew it. "Hey, Val, Skulduggery."

"To Valkyrie's house." the skeleton detective ordered.

The teleporter's eyes widened, "What? Are you sure? Don't you think her parents will get a little freaked if we appear in the middle of their living room with a talking skeleton? I mean, no offence, you're a perfectly nice guy and all, but they'll freak big time."

"Oh! Apologies, I meant Gordon's house. My mind is slipping a little today."

"Ah, sure thing." Fletcher flexed his fingers before teleporting them, where they all landed in the middle of the living room. A thin layer of dust covered almost all of the available surfaces, excluding only the chairs and tables, making Valkyrie leave a mental note to clean up the place when she had time. "So… are you gonna tell me where you went today or am I still just the bus? Because, you know, I'd appreciate it if you told me." A fine veil of bitterness snuck into the teleporter's words which he couldn't quite hide, creating a pang of guilt in Valkyrie's stomach.

"Just… drop it for now, Fletcher. I'll tell you about it later." she whispered. Catching the serious tone in her words (although he couldn't think of many times when there wasn't such a tone) he left the subject and instead babbled about something in the way only he could.

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><p>Understandably, Skulduggery had been sulking. Valkyrie, in all honesty, had been expecting it. It wasn't every day you gave in and retired your car that had been with you for donkey's years. Yet it was months now and he still hadn't done much more than talk to her (which was several weeks ago) and it was making her worried. The best explanation she could come up with as to why was that the combination of all the recent events had been building up and finally got to him. But still, months? It surely wasn't <em>that<em> bad. He hadn't done anything of the sort when he had discovered his surrogate daughter of sorts was Darquesse, or when Ghastly turned to stone. She could go on, but decided there was no point. He would come round when he was ready, and there was no point trying to rush him.

Speaking of recent events, she was getting pretty irritated, however, at the monotony of the recent months, and this she blamed partially on the absentee detective. They'd made no breakthrough on the Tanith issue, she was getting increasingly fed up with Fletcher's near ditzy optimism and to top it all off, Scapegoat or whatever the Zombie was called had been pestering her on methods to prevent the decomposition.

Okay, she'd been trying to ignore them, she really had. But when they turned up at her house of all places, she completely gave up on being patient. God, half the time she wished Caelan hadn't let them out… which was a funny thought because she hadn't thought of the strange vampire in a while… or the accompanying pathetic lilt in her emotions when she thought of him. Ugh.

As of late she'd been spending more time with the echo of Gordon, appreciating the fact that he treated her as he had done before. Ghastly was understandingly not talking to many people and thus as useless as Skulduggery. Tanith was… unavailable, Fletcher was being 'understanding' about something he didn't have a clue about, her parents were going rather ballistic about the whole _baby_ business and Skulduggery had his problem, whatever _that_ was.

Not wanting him to pop up in the middle of a conversation with her uncle, she resisted taking Fletcher and instead chose the long walk to Gordon's house… in the blinding sunlight. It was one of those days where one physically couldn't cover up without worry of fainting, so she bit the bullet and went out in a plain t-shirt, her usual skinny jeans and, god save us, flip-flops.

"Stephanie! That's the first time I've seen your arms in months! Didn't know you still had any!" her father called from the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" her mother asked.

Rolling her eyes, the necromancer replied with, "I'm not twelve anymore. I'm only going to Gordon's. I'll call you when I'm on my way back."

Her mother frowned a little, worried at how often her daughter had been visiting the house of her husbands long dead brother. Was it normal for girls her age to go and visit an empty house? Sure there were plenty of books there that keep her entertained for days, but she was sixteen! There was something odd about it. And then a thought struck her. Stephanie could always be meeting that boyfriend of hers there, the one with the crazy hair whose name she always forgot. Oh… she hoped they were properly aware of the repercussions of such a… relationship.

"Well… stay safe, Steph. You hear me? And remember to put some sun cream on! You burn so easily."

"Yeah, mum! Bye!" Valkyrie gave them a quick wave before rushing out the house, her coat draped over one arm just in case (and not in case of rain by any means). She set off, tying her hair back to keep it from sticking to the back of her neck. It was getting increasingly hot, so much so that the hot air rising from the surface of the car seemed to dance, distorting the images behind. When touched, the smooth metal near burned ones fingers, making her decide, '_Definitely a good thing I didn't go by car_.'

Halfway to the house she could see a group of teenager about her age in the distance. Girls in near non-existent skirts and shorts and boys with trousers so low you could see their pants far more than was necessary. Quickly debating in her head whether to look small or confident, she settled on holding her head high and maintaining eye contact if necessary. She wasn't about to act meek in front of a load of teenagers after she'd defeated all manner of crazy monsters.

"Hey, Steph, what's up with you? Going to a funeral?" one of the girls asked, giggling yet it was plain she was only teasing. Almost as if they knew each other?

"Huh?" Was a fairly decent reply considering.

The girl made a dismissive gesture with her hand, "Oh never mind that. We heard you were spotted with some blond guy the other day… well, week. Spill the beans!"

"Sorry, I've got family business at the moment, can't talk right now. Bye!" Valkyrie threw out the first excuse that came to mind and walked past, not wanting to cause a scene.

"Hey, you're not getting off that easy! Tell us later, m'kay! And don't wear such heavy clothes all the time! You'll get heatstroke or something!" the girl waved before turning and carrying on.

'_My reflection had _definitely_ been missing things out_.' she decided before easing into a jog towards her second home. Racing towards the echo stone she all but flung herself onto a nearby chair and waited for her uncle to notice her presence, longing for a normal conversation. Yet when she realised how engrossed he was into whatever book it was he was reading she lightly cleared her throat.

Gordon jumped, "Oh! Hello! I didn't notice you coming in!"

"Obviously not." she smiked.

"I would ask how you are but you still have that… lookish look on your face. So, any headway on the issues ar hand?" he asked but got a mere shake of the head in response. They chatted for a while, trying to stay clear of magic related conversation, yet as the echo stone resident hadn't left the room in a while his knowledge of the outside world was fairly limited. After a while, however, he gave in and his expression softened as he smiled, "There's always a solution. Don't doubt for a second that you will find it."

"This isn't one of your books, Gordon! We've been at it for months and still haven't found anything. I'm starting to wonder if it isn't just a big waste of time."

"Don't make me call a therapist. Moping never solved anything."

"How would you call one? There's no phone nearby. In fact, I think they cut the line for this place since no one technically lives here."

Gordon paused for a moment, taking in how tetchy his niece was, then suggested, "Have you tried China-"

"I've tried China! I've tried every legal method under the sun to get this information, and several illegal ones."

"Don't tell me of all people you've tried illegal methods! I'll have to call Skulduggery and get him to beat some sense into you… metaphorically of course."

"Like he'd do anything." she near snarled. It was clear to her uncle that she was fed up with worry for her mentor and was deciding to channel this into anger. This saddened him greatly, seeing her in such a condition, yet there was little he could do.

"Still moping too?"

"Yep."

"The pair of you need to get your act together!"

"Easy for you to say, you're-" she began before the sound of the front door creaking open filled the room. Twisting the dark coloured ring around her finger, the channel for her necromancy powers, she opened the door to Gordon's study a crack and peered through it. Two figures could be seen, and then without consciously realising it, when she saw who they were she gave a cry of disbelief. "You two? Again? Why can't you just give up?"

Scrapegrace and Thrasher, the zombies, were stood awkwardly in the hallway, doing their best to look dignified and normal while body parts equally did their best to work themselves loose. Thrasher was in the middle of sewing his zombie overlord's left ear on when her cry interrupted him, making him jump and jab the needle into Scrapegrace's head.

Thrasher opened his mouth, clearly about to tell the girl off for making him injure his boss, yet was stopped by Scrapegrace holding his hand up in what he hoped was an elegant and noble looking plea for silence. Yet there were tears prickling in the corners of his eyes from the needle stuck in the side of his head. "Please. I know that we haven't been… friends, per se, but does that give you the right to leave us suffering? Where's your compassion?" A quick look at Valkyrie's face revealed to him that his 'moving' speech wasn't working in the slightest, so he cleared his throat, got down on one knee and tried a different tactic. "Please! Please, please, please!" I just want to spend one day where I don't have to staple my ears back on, or sew my nose to my face! Is that too much to ask?"

"I know what you want, but for the last time, I don't have the cure." She tried her best to keep her voice cold and icy, but it was getting harder as the temper began to rise.

"But you knew Grouse! Perhaps he told you something?"

"How many times? I. Don't. Have it!" She tugged at the shadows in the room and swirled them around the zombie duo's legs until they were completely tangled, and then, flicking her wrists, flung them from the house so forcefully that they bounced several times before skidding to a halt. She was fairly certain she could see an arm resting casually on the tarmac, and then realised that perhaps throwing a pair of zombies across the road probably wasn't the greatest idea she'd ever had… but shrugged and went back inside, "Eh. They'll figure something out."

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><p>Thankfully, after that they got the message she didn't see them again… or she'd accidentally killed them that day, which filled her with a slight disgust, yet nonetheless they were pretty much dead anyway. But that feeling of unrest inside due to the monotony of the day was still going strong. Valkyrie supposed that after having adventures almost every other day for the past few years, just a few hours without anything exciting going on would be torture, let alone months! She eventually found herself reduced to doing her homework herself and even going to school just to keep her mind occupied. This, of course, made her reflection pretty confused, but technically it didn't have the right to be confused, being a reflection! Although she guessed it was just generally being odd recently.<p>

That morning, it was just one of those days, Valkyrie decided. Waking up had been completely normal. She'd opened her eyes a crack at the bleeping of the alarm, shut them again for a second and was promptly launched into a dream where she'd already gotten dressed, eaten breakfast and left the house. And when she awoke, she found that not only was she most definitely not dressed, but that she also only had about ten minutes before she had to be at the bus stop. As if the world was trying to prove how cliché it wanted to be when she all but screeched to a halt in front of the bus stop, that was the day the school had appointed a new bus driver that got lost around the winding Irish roads. To further this, when it finally came around the bend, screeching to a halt half an hour late it kicked up a dust cloud that got in her eyes and made them dry for the rest of the day. She was officially fed up and wished she'd sent her reflection to school for the day… it wasn't even nine 'o' clock in the morning yet…

"And so now we get… 64cm for side b." Her maths teacher stood at the front of the class, pointing at various sides of the triangle and reminding them to copy down the diagram into their books. She had a round, friendly face and had to be at least middle aged judging by the sheer amount of grey hairs and laugh lines she had. "Now. Turn to page 127 of the textbooks I just handed out. At the… top left of the page there should be some 'tricky Pythagoras questions'. When you've gotten up to question five put your hand up and I'll tell you what page the answers are on."

Pythagoras wasn't that bad, really, once you got into the swing of it. In fact, it was almost theraputic doing essentially the same question over and over and over again… a squared plus b squared equals c squared and so on. Although nothing compared to racing down tangled alleyways in pursuit of various criminals, hurling fireballs and condensed shadows with Skulduggery…

"Stephanie? Hello?" Her maths teacher waved at her from the front of the class, resulting in a few sniggers from her fellow classmates. "Now we have your attention would you kindly do your work along with the rest of the class?"

Head ducked down to hide the _very_ slight flush on her face (because, of course as Valkyrie would tell anyone, she didn't do blushing), she got to work again, having not noticed that she'd begun to daydream. Although she supposed that was kind of the thing with daydreams, you couldn't intentionally daydream. However, the very second she'd turned back to her work a dark shape passed the window, slightly to wask for a normal walk jet not quite jogging. Yet no one looked up, after all, why should they? They were on the ground floor with windows looking out on to the courtyard that led to the office. People walked past the window all the time.

'_Right. So… eleven point five squared is… eleven squared is… one hundred and twenty one, and nought point five squared is… um… uh… great. I can shoot fireballs from my hands, move things with air currents and control shadows and death at will, but I can't square eleven point five_!' Sighing, Valkyrie pulled her ancient calculator from her bag and contributed to the tap-tap-taps hat filled the room as people jabbed at time buttons to figure out lengths of a triangle. Her calculator, as previously mentioned, was old with one of the buttons missing, meaning that whenever the need for the number nine arrived she had to use a thin pencil to poke the number in.

A quiet voice interrupted the chatter with, "Excuse me… is miss Stephanie Edgley in this class?"

Confused, she turned around in her seat to see one of the men who worked in the office with a small slip of paper in hand. The teacher nodded, pointed her out then returned to her work on the computer. She wasn't sure what on earth he could have to talk to her about… unless… could it be something to do with her sister (she was fairly certain it was going to be a girl)? At this, she suddenly felt very guilty for thinking all the bad things about the baby, as she had been beforehand. '_What if something has gone wrong_?'

"You're cousin's here. He said that it's urgent so you've got the rest of the day off. Family matters." the man explained. Valkyrie just blinked. She was pretty certain that she didn't have any male cousins, unless of course they'd suddenly discovered that Gordon had a secret love child or something odd like that… although a certain amount of relief flooded into her system. It could quite easily just be one of her contacts in the magical community getting her attention with new information… or just a mistake in the system.

"Which one, sorry?" she asked, hoping for some insight from their name.

"Uh…" the man looked down at the scrawls on his paper before looking up once more with, "Caelan Cain, I think he said."

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><p><strong>AN: **Rewritten the first chapter! It's also considerably longer now, which is good!

Aaaand, I'm an English peep, so when I say 'pants' I mean underwear, and trousers is, well, trousers? Um, there's probably more, like the whole 'mom/mum' thing, and other stuff. So if there are terms which you're a little 'what is she on about?', just ask!

So, what I wrote before, but condensed! This is my first fanfic, so if anything's drastically wrong, just point it out and I'd be happy to change it! Um, I'm a little 'hm' about putting Caelan and Valkyrie as the main characters because people may jump to the conclusion that this is a romance based piece, and it's really not. I mean, there _is_ fluff, but it's not the main focus, just to clear that!

Uh, what else? Ah! This is going to be at least 150,000 words if all goes to plan with fortnightly updates of around 5000 words or more. And I don't plan of giving this up. I'll stick with it to the bitter end!

Thanks for reading!


	2. The Arrival Of A Vampire

With a barely concealed 'the hell?" muttered under her breath, she packed her stuff away and set off after the office worker, remembering to thank her teacher for being let out. Why on earth would he turn up at her school of all places? She hadn't seen hair nor hide of him for months, so she guessed it wasn't for a friendly reunion. While she was thankful for his help all of those times (although not so much for the confessions of love), she wasn't prepared to forgive him for just turning up at her refuge against all the crazy things in her life. Besides, weren't vampires supposed to only come out at night?

When they arrived at the main entrance, she found that by the trophy case, a tall person in a dark coat was stood. Assuming that this was Caelan, she padded over to where he was waiting. He turned smoothly to face her before announcing, "Come with me, I can't tell you what I need to here, someone unsavoury could listen in."

He turned the coats collar up and pulled on a baseball cap, which he then secured into place with the coats hood before venturing back outside. When he noticed her amused look, he explained how he burnt to a ridiculous extent, which only served to make her snort. When he walked, he seemed to make a strange stomping motion with his feet, which she only guessed was him trying to walk 'like a human'.

He made one of his small smiles as he noticed her heart beat pick up, which made her respond with a frown as she looked away. The last thought that went through the receptionists mind as he watched the two apparent teens leave the building was, 'Cousins? Not bloody likely.'

"You have a car?" She demanded instantly as they sat down.

"Yes, I have a car."

_"You_ have a _car_? Do you even need one? I thought you kind of… you know… _crept_everywhere." It wasn't a flashy car such as Ferrari that you'd expect a vampire to drive around in, or a classic like the Bentley, it was simply a car. In fact, it was worse that that; it was a Ford Focus, and not one of the newer ones either. It was dull silver, had a deep dent in one of the sides and all but the front window were blacked out, and even that one had a filter on it to prevent too much sunlight coming in.

"Just because I can, doesn't mean I will. It's nice to maintain a sense of normality now and again." He shrugged. Noticing, as always, how his torso didn't move a bit due to him not needing to breathe she suddenly realised that staring at his chest probably looked a little odd… and he'd certainly noted it.

"The planet will not be impressed. So, what was this urgent thing you had to talk to me about?" As soon as the words left her mouth, the amused expression on his face vanished, which promptly ruined the mood.

"I think I may have found a way to get the remnant out of Tanith. Other than doctor Nye that is."

A shocked silence completely filled the car. It seemed to press dauntingly on them, restricting all speech and noise… until Caelan's stomach rumbled loudly. Despite now ridiculous the noise sounded, it reminded her that this man with his slick black hair and flint sharp cheekbones was a hungry monster. "No offence, but there's no way I'm sitting in an enclosed space with a hungry vampire."

He smirked, "Not even a house trained one? As I told you last time, I've got the wolfs bane and hemlock formula. I'm a human now… pretty much." She shook her head, remembering the other things he'd said last time until he interjected with, "Besides, I have something to… ah, eat… in the boot."

"Shouldn't you have thought about that before hand? Walking into a school with hundreds of people when you hungry… it's just asking for trouble isn't it?"

The skin at the bridge of his nose crinkled angrily into a snarl as he replied, "It's not exactly easy to get a good supply of food you know. Unlike fanciful vampires in novels, I can't just go and snack on Bambi rather than humans. It doesn't work like that." Having said that, he did look tired… and hungry. There were darker shadows under his eyes than usual and a bit of five 'o' clock shadow across his jaw. She would have pointed out that he needed a shave, but he looked a little stressed and decided he didn't need it.

"What is it? How?" She chose upon instead.

"What? My lunch?"

"The anti-remnant device."

"Oh, that. Well… I've been… uh… looking into it. You've been pretty upset about the whole issue."

Biting back a '_How observant of you_!' she curled up into the chairs embrace, bringing her feet up onto the edge of the seat and relishing how if she'd done this in the Bentley Skulduggery would have had a heart attack, yet it seemed Caelan wasn't bothered by it. "You noticed?"

"You and Tanith were close-"

"We still are. She's just not… herself at the moment."

"And I can fix that for you." He flashed her one of his smiles that made her heart race.

'_Think of Fletcher, think of Fletcher. You are with him and you are not some ditzy heroine in a love triangle for goodness sake. Fletcher Fletcher Fletcher_.' She ran those lines through her head like a mantra before replying, "So, what is it?"

"It seems to be another form of the remnant capturer, yet far more advanced. I've only heard snippets, but it seems it was made by a woman whose partner was bound to a remnant for several years and got fed up."

"Go her."

"Indeed." He muttered dryly, hoping for a more positive and emotional reaction from her. Perhaps that would have to wait until they actually got the remnant out from Tanith. "Anyway, I haven't been able to pinpoint its location exactly; as you know not many people are on friendly terms with me per se. But I think it is somewhere in… well, Switzerland."

"Switzerland?" A little shocked, she mulled over the events in her head. Whereas it was great that it wasn't somewhere like… rural Mongolia, Switzerland still wasn't exactly accessible without Fletcher, and if Caelan was the only one who knew about it she doubted things would go smoothly with the both of them together. She realised then that almost everything they'd ever needed to get for their various… erm… magical needs was conveniently in either Ireland or Britain. Basically, pretty close by for back up to come or for retreat to go and lick their wounds.

Although of course, she could get Skulduggery and Fletcher together without Caelan and pop off to Switzerland and back again in the space of about a day. But this also had its problems; they'd ask where she'd gotten her information from, and again neither was exactly friendly with the vampire that was seemingly despised by all. The other alternative was to go with just Caelan, and just the thought of this sent little warning signals into her mind as her gut flipped awkwardly… but of course that could be because she too was hungry. Anyway, that wouldn't work either. She wouldn't be able to fake not being there for that amount of time without it being noticed, and the main issue of course being money. She wasn't exactly rolling in cash, and she doubted Caelan was a secret entrepreneur.

"Is there anything else you know about it?" She asked.  
>"Yes, but we should probably move out of here. That receptionist is giving us funny looks for being parked here so long for a 'family emergency' being what I said to him."<p>

"Against my better judgement, I think I might just go with you, but only for more information about this."

"You're the great skeleton detectives sidekick, since when has better judgement ever applied to you?"

"Watch it, or I may go back to my maths class." She smirked.

* * *

><p>They stopped behind a small convenience store where Valkyrie got out of the car. Partially, because Caelan was about to eat whatever it was he had in the boot and she didn't want to get caught in any feeding frenzy that may or may not happen, and partially because she wanted to get something to eat herself. When she asked what he had hidden away, he replied with an annoyingly vague answer but assured her he hadn't got a dead body, so she guessed he'd somehow stolen some blood bags or something along those lines.<p>

Upon her return with a bar of chocolate and a croissant, she was pleased to notice how eating hadn't somehow magically revitalised him. If anything, the only thing that had changed was that there weren't awkward stomach rumblings filling the car every few seconds. Besides, if he had rejuvenated after his meal into a new Caelan, she would have felt a little cheated.

"So, where are you planning on taking me?" She demanded in between bites of her ridiculously flaky lunch, silently taking into account the miniscule drop of blood on his cheek.

"You will probably object to it, but all of my research is at where I'm currently staying. You'll have to come with me there."

"I'll hear you out, but I'll have to go home quickly to let out my reflection." She replied after checking her watch. "By the way, you've got a speck of blood on your cheek, just there."

"It won't take that long; there's not much to look at." He noisily shifted the gear stick before turning a particularly nasty bend in the road. He regularly checked the small clock on the dashboard, which she guessed was so that he'd know when he was about to transform so he could inject the suppressant.

It was odd. The car smelt of absolutely nothing, unlike most other people's cars, which most definitely smelt of the person who owned it. Although, she supposed that was to be expected since he technically wasn't alive and hadn't been for at least eighty years… but wouldn't that mean the whole place should reek of rotting meat? It probably wasn't best to ponder such things for too long.

They arrived at a three star hotel on the outskirts of a nearby city. As they entered the lobby, the receptionist made a strange cough while giving Caelan his keys back. Valkyrie glared at him in such a way that clearly said 'continue that, and I break your arm' which thankfully stopped the receptionist midway through a suggestive look. Never before had the man who'd once been known for his ability to scare his opponent into submission before even fighting them felt so small. Valkyrie wasn't exactly a huge girl, but she definitely had muscle, which showed through her school uniform a little when she moved; she was by no means weedy.

"Here we have it." He opened the door widely, letting her through first in an odd show of chivalry. The room was filled with dozens of books covering almost every single space that it could. Needless to say, he'd made sure room service didn't go in. Most were opened on random pages with pages bent irrespective of how old and precious they were.

"This is both a librarians nightmare and dream. China would have a fit at all of these dog-eared pages."

"Good thing she isn't here then."

He took her through all the information he'd collected. Most of it was pretty sketchy and obscure, such as 'It can't be removed after four days…_?_' or 'there's _virtually_no chance of getting rid of the remnant after the four day mark'. She raised her eyebrow as she browsed through them.

"Sorry, but there's not really anything here that's concrete evidence. It seems more like these people were just being optimistic with their approach of writing it down." She frowned as she read yet another frustratingly unhelpful article.

"That's all I could find for ages. In fact, that's all I could find in English."

Snorting, "Don't tell me your some kind of language genius. Besides, it's these books right? I mean, I can read a little French, but this stuff is all… dunno, old-fashioned French."

"I don't know much more than Bonjour and Guten-tag-"

"Which is German." She interrupted.

"Exactly. I've been using a translator. If you look at this text, it talks about how someone's child was infected with a remnant, and that's it, but then later on it talks about how they grow up, and they're obviously not infected here. So there must be someway to remove them after four days."

"Unless of course this is just a story someone wrote."

"You have a very pessimistic view on the world."

"It's hard not to. But if we did go off to find this anti-remnant thing in Switzerland and it turns out that it's just some story to jazz up someone's old hairbrush or whatever, it'll have been a complete waste of time. Time we don't really have."

"I haven't finished yet. I cross referenced several other books, all in French, until I found this." He led her to a smaller book bound in a leather case with intricate gold patterns. In this was a very small sketch of a strange necklace. She glanced at it before turning back again, confused.

"What's that?"

"That," He began almost proudly, "Is your anti remnant device."

* * *

><p>She stayed for a while longer as they looked through all the books until she checked her watch, found it to be almost four 'o' clock and declared that she needed to go home. The car journey took a while as Caelan took an unnecessary amount of time to find Haggard despite all of the signs. 'I get lost easily' was his excuse with a smirk. By the time they were finally within the villages borders, he turned to her and before he could stop it, the words he probably should never have said to her slipped from his mouth, "Your house is number four Baker street right?"<p>

"Sorry?"

"I… ah… nothing."

"How do you know where I live?"

"I don't, that was just a guess." He lied, chuckling slightly as if to ridicule her, yet she saw straight through it.

"I'm not stupid, Caelan." She frowned. He bit back an 'enlighten me' before she added, "When you tasted my blood… you can track me now can't you?"

"Theoretically speaking-"

"You've tracked me to my house haven't you?" She said quietly. For a relieved second, he thought she'd be flattered, but when she opened the door, rushed out and slammed it shut again he realised that perhaps this wasn't the case. Why couldn't she see it his way? He'd been watching over her for over half a year, and had fought off countless magicians trying to dispose of her when she was out and about. Of course, said magicians didn't understand why a vampire in human form would suddenly attack them so he'd built up quite an urban legend: '_that random vampire what likes to beat people up_' as one semi-conscious elemental so eloquently put it. Caelan was perfectly aware that she could protect herself just fine, but it wasn't fair on her having to constantly have her guard up… right? Besides, most popular teenage literature these days decreed that stalking = attractive in men. All those fan girls couldn't be wrong, surely?

Although, of course, poor Caelan's rather warped displays of affection were not wanted by Valkyrie. Indeed, most sane girls wouldn't want it. Her mind was a war zone at that moment; he repulsed her yet he was the only way she'd get Tanith back. Those goddamn dark eyes of his, the way they'd drain her brain capacity until she was left as dim as the stupid girls in her class who could only think of the good looking boy in front of them. She'd much rather be feeling these things around China with her weird love magic, at least the attraction wasn't real then.

"Wait." He called. Part of her wanted to stop right there then turn to him and give in, but to hell with that part! She wouldn't be caught dead doing that any time soon. "Please, at least listen."

"I've listened. Thank you for the information, but I don't want to get involved with stalkers, I'm not that stupid." And with that she turned and began to jog back to her house. The very idea he'd been watching her all that time! It made her skin crawl. Just how much had he seen? Did he watch her conversations with Gordon, eating tea with her family, sleeping… oh god… _getting dressed in the mornings_? She'd rather have Scrapegrace back at this rate.

But now she had the information on the anti remnant necklace… thingy. With that she could get Tanith and everything would be good again. Besides, she could really do with having a long chat with her about the whole Caelan issue since he clearly wouldn't be leaving her alone any time soon. Yep, Scrapegrace and his zombie pal would be great.

When she thought about it, she could definitely remember several times when she could have sworn she'd seen him around in really odd places when she was out. One such was when she was with Fletcher somewhere and she could see him in the crowd near her, prompting her to get Fletcher to teleport them away somewhere very different. Latvia to be exact.

Thudding heavily onto her bed, she mentally thanked whoever it was who'd put up the runes around her house for protection (her mind was a little occupied with other things at the moment). After yet another night time encounter with a shady character she'd taken her safety into her own hands and gotten China to protect her entire home. After all, it wasn't just herself in danger it was also her family.

She looked up at the exact moment her Dad popped his head around the door. "What was with the stomping, Steph?"

She grunted.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, sorry for the mix up! Here is chapter two again! I'm sorry for getting them all mixed up! I was editing bits and accidentally mixed them up, as you could tell! Hopefully it shouldn't happen again, but if something is wrong, as always just let me know and I'll change it.<strong>

**Gosh, I can't remember at all when I wrote here! Um... I think it went something like this?**

**So, while writing as Caelan, I noticed that no matter what I did he sounded creepy stalkerish, and then I realised that's _exactly_ what he is! So no problems there! Although I'm a little worried that Valkyrie's reaction to finding out Caelan was stalking her is a little too placid? I did have a creep stalk me around school for about two years or so but i dealt with it by death glaring them at every opportunity. I was going to confront them about it, but then they left the school I go to, so whatever!**

**For Caelan's vampireness (for lack of better word) I'm making the bulk of it up as I'm fairly certain not much is said about it. So if there is something wrong on there just let me know and I'll be happy to correct it. Also, there is a bit of a dig at Twilight here... yep.**

**Reviews would make me a very happy girl, but don't feel obliged! If you have time it would be lovely, and they don't have to be long at all. :)**

**Thanks for reading!  
><strong>


	3. Plans

The 'Caelan event' was now a month behind her. Valkyrie had made sure to keep an extra eye out for him from then on, but she hadn't seen him. She'd been thinking about what he'd said… oh had she been thinking. The first night after, she'd lost almost the entire nights sleep just pondering what to do. On the one hand, creepy stalker Caelan who made her failure of a heart race every time she saw him. She couldn't go with him, she'd practically be cheating on Fletcher knowing how Caelan would be with her, and besides, she'd probably get a heart problem from the amount of stress it would be; her blood pressure would hit the roof! Although, on the other hand, getting Tanith back would be well worth the few days she'd have to spend dodging a certain vampire's advances.

It was only after the second week she realised how selfish she was being. She was preventing someone getting rid of their remnant because of a personal qualm she had with someone. So in the middle of eating lunch, she slammed her cutlery down in front of a confused girl before declaring, "I feel ill. Tell miss I'm going home."

Of course, what she actually meant to say was '_Fine, I'll take up on the stalker vampires proposal_.'

She really hoped that he was still staying in the same hotel as he was before; as if not for that she wasn't sure how to contact him. She'd walked quite a distance away from school before remembering she had his number.

Scrolling down the list, she jabbed the button that would call him and held the phone to her ear. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring… no one picked up for at least ten rings before a voice began to speak.

"Please leave a message after the beep." A mechanical woman's voice instructed.

"Hey Caelan. Um… do you… do you want to meet up somewhere? I need to talk to you. I'm… uh… gonna check your hotel room to see if you're there. Yeah… bye." She smacked the phone against her forehead. One phone call to him had her stammering like a love struck fool. "Idiot."

Getting to the hotel had been tricky. She only remembered the name and that it was a three star, proving to be a little unhelpful when she told the taxi driver and he pointed out three separate hotels. After further description of the area surrounding it they managed to pin point its location, yet she didn't have enough money for even half the fare so she took the bus. Damn, it was inconvenient to have neither the Bentley nor Fletcher to get around.

By the time she got there and asked the receptionist if he was still there, she was informed that he'd left a while ago, making her stomp on the way out before slamming the door shut. Checking to see if she had any missed calls, texts or anything, she found she had none. Muttering angrily, she shoved the phone back into her pocket, "Great. He's in a strop. Bloody vampires."

She doubted she could have been less discreet about her irritation… no, near exasperation at the vampire. If he was so desperate to please her, the least he could do was answer her calls. Besides, it's not like she'd been over the top when she found out he was stalking her, she was practically serene! She could have been a lot worse, and by worse she meant violent. If Skulduggery or Fletcher had been with her when she found out he wouldn't have got off with only his feelings hurt. Having said that, she knew he hadn't done it to be malicious or perverted. But it was still wrong.

Yet Skulduggery had gone back to normal, something she was insanely thankful for. He'd simply turned up at Gordon's one day with his weird waxy complexion on.

The first thing she told him was, "Your face is melting again."

"And here I was hoping to make an impression." He replied, his mouth grinning near his left ear. He removed the face, returning to his usual skull before Valkyrie flung herself at him and hugged him tightly. Well, as tightly one can hug a walking skeleton.

"Where were you?" She demanded as soon as they were sat down.

"I just… needed some time off."

She scowled, "You've been gone for almost four months."

"I was certain you could cope by yourself. Besides, I checked now and again to make sure you were okay." He said in an almost guilty tone.

"With who?"

"Gordon."

"What? You've been talking to him?"

"Of course."

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"I asked him not to. He was the only… I was going to say person but… hmm."

"You're not exactly one to talk Mr Skeleton detective."

"He was the only sentient human like... thing I spoke to."

"Only sentient thing you spoke to? Are you trying to tell me you spoke to rocks in your absence? Why didn't you speak to anyone? I'm fairly certain I can hold a better conversation than a rock."

"I wasn't trying to insult you." He chuckled.

"I hope not. " Valkyrie pouted. "So. Are you really not going to tell me anything about what you've been doing?"

"No."

"Not even a clue?"

"No."

"Not even a little one?"

"No."

"This is far from over, Skulduggery."

"A little investigating never hurt anyone. So. How have you been the past four months?" He asked casually. Without realising it, she frowned at a vase as if it had insulted her as she remembered how much Caelan had pissed her off. "Hmm? Valkyrie, what's wrong?"

"Oh… nothing. Just that time… you know…" Knowing that any normal human man would just stop talking at this, she briefly allowed herself a smirk on the inside… until his reply.

"Do you really think that's going to scare me off?" She was certain that if he had a face, he'd be grinning. "What happened?"

"Just some overly persistent man-"

"Not that vampire I hope?" He interjected immediately.

The lie rolled off her tongue before she even registered it, "No."

He cocked his head slightly, wondering whom else would dare stalk her without fear of being burnt. "Who?"

"Scrapegrace and his zombie friend. But I dealt with them."

"Uh oh, I don't like that tone. What did you do to them?" There was a smile in his voice.

"Nothing special, just used the power of necromancy to hurl them out of the house. You know, the usual." She shrugged nonchalantly, much to Skulduggery's amusement.

"You do realise that we're not really supposed to show magic in front of non-magic people?"

"Yeah. But technically I wasn't showing any magic to them. All they saw was two zombies fly out of the house, so they could just assume that they're drunk."

"All of these people who saw it were simultaneously drunk?"

"Exactly."

"Even the children?"

"Especially them, Skulduggery. Especially them." She muttered darkly.

The hours passed with neither party noticing. It was only when her phone buzzed in her pocket with an angry message from her Mum that she realised it was almost eleven. They laughed at this for a while before she headed home. Skulduggery offered her a lift, but she decided that turning up at her house in some random guys car would look a bit odd. Further more, if he dropped her off a little further back, then they'd wonder how she got home so fast. And, of course, his new car wasn't to her liking yet. It was another classic car, this time a dark red Citroën DS, very classy with swivelling headlights and hydraulics that could raise and lower the body of the car. Although at the moment it smelt funny and she wasn't used to not going around in the Bentley. Therefore, she would walk.

If you asked her parents why they just let her walk back from Gordon's, they would shrug say that they were more than confident that she could protect herself. Besides, it would be the unfortunate fool trying to attack her that they'd feel sorry for. But it was a nice neighbourhood and Gordon's was fairly close; she'd be absolutely fine.

She didn't have any school the day after due to it being a Saturday, so she strolled along slowly and completely at ease. There was something about walking around at night when no one else was around; a certain crispness to the air that you didn't get in the day. The stars were amazingly bright and you could just about see the arch of the Milky Way across the sky. A few clouds drifted across now and again, but failed to cover the gibbous moon sitting amongst the pinpricks of light. She could hear the screech of an owl in the distance, but certainly couldn't see anything. Although, she supposed that was too be expected; it would be a pretty rubbish hunter if everyone could see it.

"Hello." A male voice said quietly behind her. She leapt into the air and span around, summoning shadows in case it was a magic user, as one had to be well prepared. Looking half amused, and half worried was Caelan.

"Jesus-bloody-Christ!" She gasped. "I thought I told you to wear a bell?"

"Sorry?" He smirked.

"Anyway, I thought you were in a huff with me or something? I couldn't find you! I even went to your hotel room and you weren't there and that receptionist gave me loads of weird looks and it was all for nothing!"

"Oh, I thought I said. I need to move regularly, otherwise the other vampires will catch me up." There was still a hint of a smile in his voice. He knew full well that he hadn't told her that. "Besides, I thought you didn't want to see me again."

"Oh for god's sake!" She cried before hushing down again when she remembered people were sleeping. "Are you trying to emotionally blackmail me?"

"No. I was merely pointing out what you said."

"Ugh!" She grunted as she turned and carried on walking. "I hope you don't expect me to take it back or something. You _are_ a stalker." He made a small harrumphing noise at this. "Oh come on Caelan. We're all over five here. Besides, you're at least over fifty, so if anything you should be the most mature."

"Your heartbeat still hasn't slowed down." He pointed out.

"Can we not have one conversation that doesn't lead to my love life?"

"I can't help hearing it. Your heart is incredibly loud." He held up the palms of his hands in a sign of powerlessness.

At this, she told herself, '_That doesn't automatically make me a blushing school girl or a frightened wimp at all. When you're getting ready to fight your heart rate also increases, as you need to get blood to your muscles that's it. Yeah_!'

"Then plug your ears. Wait, are you trying to suggest that I have an incredibly loud heart murmur or something?"

At this he laughed. Sadly, Valkyrie realised that this was the first time he'd properly laughed without sounding malicious or scary. There were often… scrap that, almost the entire time she was with him, part of her whispered to the other parts of her brain to back away and run. He was a vampire and some of him wanted nothing more than to eat her. In fact his 'love' for her was probably nothing more and a crazy longing for Valkyrie au gratin. And then she suddenly remembered…

"Caelan, please tell me you injected that formula you took from… from Grouse." She hesitated a little at the end, feeling bad that Caelan had essentially stolen his stuff. She missed Grouse insanely, especially his grumpy bedside manner.

"Of course." He said softly. "I haven't changed once since our conversation in the Hibernian."

She flinched a little, something that certainly did not go unnoticed by him. "Have you found a proper reason for it yet?"

"It's still predominantly for you. But, you'll be pleased to know there are now other reasons. Ever since I've taken this, I've had almost eight extra hours in the day to spend my time on." To her relief his eyes finally left her face. "So as boring as it sounds, I've been getting some sleep. It's great. For the first time in over ninety years-"

"I thought you were, like, one-hundred and something." She interrupted.

"Saying ninety makes me feel younger." He grinned. "Anyway, for the first time in over ninety years I've been dreaming. You humans are ridiculous; you don't realise how amazing dreaming is until you get it taken away from you. I've even heard some of you complaining about it!" He laughed and shook his head. "You're ridiculous!"

She would have asked him what he dreamed about, but she had a nasty feeling she knew what the answer would be… and how he'd react to her question. His face was very animated when he spoke about dreams; it made him almost look like a normal human being. Almost.

"That's great, Caelan!" In a joking tone she asked, "How's your inner beast going?"

"It still wants to know why it can't get out. It's almost like it's pacing." A serious expression took over his face as he added. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I can hear it saying anything. But… I have a feeling that if it gets out again, it'll be extra bad."

"Well… maybe you should… uh, go back into your cage once a week or something. Bottling it up probably isn't good you know."

"I don't know. I could always sell it."

"What are you… oh ha ha. You're so witty." She smirked. "Who'd want to buy 'eau de vampires pent up rage' anyway?"

"I'm sure there'd be a great market for it outside Europe."

* * *

><p>It was only when she got to her room, got into bed and had begun to drift off when she remembered that she had wanted to take up on his offer on finding the anti-remnant device. Getting up to look out of the window, she couldn't see him anymore, although that was by no means an indication that he was gone. Rummaging around her room for a piece of paper and pen, she wrote in large letters 'Caelan. Meet me at Gordon's tomorrow. 12 o clock.'<p>

Of course, since she was half asleep it hadn't occurred to her that he had no idea where Gordon's house was… or that he could actually read the sign. '_He's got vampire vision or something. He'll be able to read it_.'

But the next morning she found herself really regretting the choice she'd made the night before. She'd trudged sleepily down the stairs in her usual Sunday morning get up: pyjamas, dressing gown, slippers and hair as messy as a cavewoman's. Yet as it was Sunday morning, why bother getting dressed? She still had a few hours until she needed to be at Gordon's. She'd briefly wondered if he'd seen the sign, but decided that if he didn't turn up, she'd just send a text.

Her bowl of Rice Crispies certainly snapped, crackled and popped as she poured the milk over them. She muttered almost evilly under her voice, "Scream all you want my pretties, you're still my breakfast." Before scooping a load up into her spoon and putting them in her mouth with a satisfied crunch.

"Steph! What are you doing to your poor Rice Crispies? How could you eat them without banana?" Her Dad cried as he walked in, and then as he noticed his toast was burnt, "Damn it. Mind if I join your cereal eating?"

She pushed the Rice Crispies towards him as a reply. Vaugely registering the doorbell ring, she turned towards him and grinned, "I don't know how you eat it with banana; it ruins it."

"The contrast between crispy and smooth is just heaven on a spoon." He sighed as he lovingly sliced the banana into his bowl with the edge of his spoon. "I wouldn't expect _you_to understand all this though. Only extra-amazing people appreciate this fine god of a dish."

"Then how on Earth can you appreciate it?" She said in a purposefully confused tone.

"Ah, they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"They certainly do, but I wasn't being sarcastic." She then got cuffed around the head for the comment.

"What did I do to bring up such a cold daughter?"

Laughing, she replied, "Dunno, but don't make the same mistake twice."

"Stephanie! There's someone at the door for you!" Her Mum called. Confused at who it could be, she ran a brush through her hair before jogging to the front door, where upon seeing who it was made a very odd expression.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted out at the blond boy with big hair.

"Hello to you too, Val- I mean Stephanie." Fletcher smiled and held up a basket. "I… uh, thought you'd like to have a picnic, since it's such a nice day."

"Oho! That sounds nice! I wish Desmond would take me out for a picnic one of these days. Did you hear that Desmond?" Her mum looked into the distance almost dreamily before snapping back to reality and saying it in her Dad's general direction

"What?" He shouted back. "Who's at the door?"

"No one!" Valkyrie interrupted, knowing how her Dad liked to over react with poor Fletcher.

"Are you trying to tell me that no one is at the door to take you on a picnic?"

"That's exactly it."

"Come inside, it's hot out there." Her Mum ushered him into the living room.

While Valkyrie went upstairs to get changed, Fletcher was unwittingly dragged into a staring contest with Desmond. "If I even see your eyes wandering upstairs… Anyway, if you're going on a picnic, where's the basket?"

"I'm not sure what kind of guy you think I am, sir."

Of course, as soon as they got out of sight Fletcher teleported them to a remote area in the Swiss countryside. The sun was even hotter than in Ireland, and the mountains framed the area beautifully, although the smell of cows ruined it a little.

"Do you wanna move?" Fletcher asked when he realised he'd teleported them in the middle of a herd of cows.

"Yeah, we probably should." She nodded as they moved to spot uncluttered by cows and the gifts they leave behind them. They eventually found a place to get set up without being disturbed. It was a fun morning. Fletcher demonstrated his amazing ability to catch grapes in his mouth and from this decided to gush about how amazing he was. A well-aimed strawberry aimed at his head stopped this.

By now, she'd definitely made up her mind about going to get the anti-remnant device with Caelan. It would take a while, so she'd be gone for quite a bit. Obviously her parents wouldn't notice it (although it hurt a bit when she realised that her parents couldn't tell her apart from her reflection) but Fletcher, Skulduggery and co would be a problem. Unless she could clone her reflection and get it to be more convincing, she was stuffed with that aspect. Either she told them and risked them not letting her go, or she could just not tell them and risk them coming after her. So really, either way something would go wrong.

But she had to tell Fletcher… right? It wouldn't be hard, just a few words to let him know where she'd be going. Just words Valkyrie! '_Yeah, just 'Oh, Fletcher! I'm off for a week or so to get some artefact with that vampire that has a total crush on me and will end up kissing me several times. I'll be back soon!' That'll go down well!_'

"Fletcher?" She began.

"Yeah?" He threw her one of his trademark smiles that made her feel funny.

"I… I um…" She tried, but couldn't quite get the words out. '_I can't do it! It's like kicking a puppy_!'

"What is it?"

"I, um, thank you, again. This was really great." She gave up and decided instead that she'd just leave a note or something. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. "Sorry, I completely forgot, but I agreed to meet up with Gordon at twelve. He's got some problem or something that he wants me to help with."

"It's almost twelve now, so do you want to go now?"

"Well, I'd rather not, but I promised."

They finished eating the food then packed up, before going for a quick stroll. There was a small village at the bottom of the valley there were in, yet Fletcher said that they spoke German, and since neither of them did, they saw little point in going down there. It looked insanely pretty from afar with big wooden chalets and a nice little stream that ran through it. A thin winding train-track was its only connection to the outside world.

"My parents took me here once. They could actually speak German." He announced. "You see that chalet over there, a little apart from the rest? We hired it for a week. It's a holiday home." He pointed out a moderately sized chalet with a large garden filled with red flowers.

"Wow, it's really pretty around here." A small smile worked its way onto her face.

"If I'd known you'd get like this around here, I'd have taken you sooner!" He flashed her a grin that earned him a light smack on the arm. "It's true, you look a lot happier here."

"Are you saying I'm grumpy?"

"Well, not grumpy as such. But you're quite violent." He managed to steal a kiss before they returned to her house at ten past twelve. "Sorry, we're a bit late. Hope Gordon won't mind."

"I'm sure he won't. Bye!" She waved before popping back into the house. "I'm off to Gordon's!"

"Is the funny-haired boy going with you?" Her Dad called.

"No!"

Sprinting, she had barely had enough time to pop to the toilet before setting off again. She checked her watch, quarter past. And when she finally got there not only was it twenty past, but Caelan wasn't there. "If I'm…" Pant, pant. "Going to run all the way…" Pant, pant. "He sound at least have…" Pant, pant. "The decency…" Pant, pant. "To show up!"

She pulled her phone from her pocket and called him, tapping her finger on the side impatiently as she waited for him to pick up. When he finally a did, he answered with a casual, "Hello?"

"Where are you?" She demanded instantly.

"Sorry? Who is this?"

"It's Valkyrie!"

"Ah. Where am I expected? I'll be there instantly." There was something a little creepy about his response, but again, this wasn't about her personal issues with the guy, this was about getting Tanith back.

"I'm at Gordon's."

"Where?"

"Oh? So you didn't follow me here?" She muttered under her breath. "It's a big empty looking house. I was on my way back from it when you met me last night."

"Oh that house."

"So you have followed me there then."

There was silence from the other end before he said in a low voice, "Stay safe."

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself Caelan. Bye."

When she found herself practically pacing waiting for him, she sat down and chose instead to play some pointless game on her phone. After five minutes, she'd curled her legs up underneath her and had gotten completely immersed in beating the high score on solitaire. She was a little irritated with him; she could still be on that beautiful mountainside with Fletcher if he'd have bothered to tell her he'd be late.

At the turning of the door handle, she peered over her shoulder to look at the handle shake for a while before the person at the other end accepted that it was locked. She got to her feet and peered through the peephole to check that it was whom she was expecting.

Unlocking it, she declared upon Caelan walking in, "You shouldn't just assume the door's open and walk in you know. It's rude."

"And you've never broken into a house? You were expecting me anyway." He shrugged.

"Why weren't you here at twelve?"

"What do you mean? Your call was the first I've heard of this."

"Didn't you see the sign in my window?"

"I was under the impression that you didn't want me stalking you any longer."

"I bet you did anyway."

"Well… I did see the sign, but I couldn't read it. I have enhanced night vision and my sights a bit better, but I'm not an owl." He explained. "So why did you want me so badly?"

There was a hint of a smirk on his face, which was making her increasingly keen to wipe it off. "I didn't want you in that way. Don't make it sound like that. I wanted to tell that I'm going to take up on your idea."

He asked cheekily, "Which one? I've had several. Did it involve getting rid of that Fletcher boy?"

"No. It certainly did not. He is still my boyfriend as he was the last time we spoke, and he will be for a while yet. I was talking about the one where we go off to Switzerland to find the anti-remnant necklace."

"Ah. About that." There was a small, almost worried smile on his face. "It turns out it's more complicated than I had originally thought. Apart from the actual pendant itself, we'll also have to collect three other parts of it. I… haven't quite figured out what they are though."

"Damn it. I could probably get away for a week without worrying the others, but any longer and they'd get a lot more suspicious. Ugh! It's like the world has its middle finger up at us."

"Don't worry, we'll find them." He murmured, taking her hand in his. At this she smiled but moved her hand. "I think the first fragment is fairly close. It should be somewhere in England. Although first we'll have to actually find out what it is we're looking for."

"That's often considered helpful." She grunted. "Do you know where it is exactly?"

"According to my research, it should be near a beach somewhere."

Valkyrie scowled. Her first few experiences with beaches had been perfectly pleasant. You know, the usual stuff: making sandcastles, gorging on ice creams and so on. But one of her more recent visits involved a certain vampire named Dusk attacking her, and that ruined the entire thing. But it was no matter. She'd have her own pet vampire with her and she wasn't exactly a newbie in the field of fighting anymore. "Do you know where exactly?"

"It's somewhere in Essex called Northside-on-sea."

"Odd name."

"And Haggard is much better?" He teased.

"Shut up. And how would we get there?"

"Unless that boyfriend of yours agrees to help, and I doubt it, we'll be taking a ferry to Wales then driving there."

"That's going to cost a lot. I mean, I do have all of my uncles money, but I can't access it without my parents finding out."

"Don't worry about that. I've got enough."

"Sorry?"

"You know how I killed another vampire?"

"How could I forget? It's why you're constantly hiding."

"I wasn't the only one who wanted him dead, but I was the only one who had enough courage to do so. Meaning I got paid handsomely for it."

"Oh. But still, you can't expect me to let you pay for all of this. We've only known each other for… what… a year or so?"

"If it really bothers you that much, then you could pay me back." He gave a small smile. "Just one kiss would be more than enough."

"What do you know? We had almost two minutes of conversation there without reverting to my love life." She replied dryly.

The smile was wiped off his face. "Or you could just pay half of the money back when you can."

"Okay then. So, when shall we leave… is four am tomorrow morning okay for you?"

"I can do any time for you." He said gravely. She cleared her throat a little awkwardly.

"Um… okay. Four am tomorrow it is then. That'll be good as I won't have to worry about parents asking where I'm going. I can use the reflection so they won't know I'm gone, and for everyone else I'll write a note. Um… what else? Oh yeah, what so you think we'll need?"

"It depends if you want to get it all done in one go. We'll have to go to the three locations and then get the actual necklace. It'll probably take a little under a month? You'll have to pack quite a bit."

"Damn, they'll definitely come looking." She cursed as she put the final words on her note.

'_Dear everyone._  
><em>I'm off to look for an anti-remnant device. I knew you'd try and stop me, so I'm not telling you. Besides, it's not like you told me when you went off in a sulk for ages Skulduggery. I'll be gone for about a month or so, and when I return I'll have it.<em>  
><em>Kick some butt for me. Valkyrie<em>.'

She felt bad for emotionally blackmailing Skulduggery, she it had to be done. She twisted the necromancer ring around her finger as she wondered if it was okay. If she wrote too much it would look more like a 'never-coming-back' note. Too little and it wouldn't be much use to anyone.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. With a months worth of stuff."

"I look forward to it." He smiled before getting in his car and setting off to god-knows-where.

Her expression soon turned slightly grim as she turned around and walked over to where the echo stone sat. Gordon was about to make a jovial remark before seeing the look on her face. "I would have asked who you were talking to, but seeing your face… I'm really hoping my favourite niece isn't about to tell me something terrible."

"I'm going away for a bit because I've found a way to get the remnant out of Tanith. The problem is that it's ridiculously obscure so I'll be gone for about a month."

"It's great that you've found it, I'm very happy for you, but a month is a very long time! I know you're able to beat almost any normal human being into a pulp, but you still shouldn't be going on your own."

"I'm not."

"Then who are you going with?"

"Uh… a vampire?"

"A vampire! What?"

"He's perfectly tame."

"There's no such thing as a tame vampire! He'll eat you as soon as you're not looking! No, this won't do. I'll have to come with you."

"What?" Now it her turn to stare in a gormless manner. "You can't come with me! Where would I put you? The echo stone would run out, and it takes ages to charge it up again!"

"I am aware of that. You'll have to take the cradle with you. Otherwise I'll be telling Skulduggery about this."

"You don't even know where we're going!"

"Northside-on-sea was it?"

"No." She lied. "That's definitely not it."

"I can tell by the look on your face. Well, it's settled. Take me with you or I'll tell them. This isn't a game."

"I'll be fine."

"No. I'm coming. If you get a decent sized suitcase you should be able to fit me in with the cradle."

"This is ridiculous! I'm not taking you! Besides, how could you possibly help?"

"Brains over brawn. I know more about magical artefacts than you ever will."

"But… but… you could get damaged!"

"So could you."

"But…"

"You look like a fish with your mouth like that."

"I'm not taking you!"

"You are. Now, if you go to my room, under the bed I put the suitcase that I brought the stone and cradle home in. If you go get that then it should make the cradle a lot lighter."

* * *

><p>"Goodnight Mum, goodnight Dad." She gave them each a quick hug before 'going to bed'.<p>

"Stephanie hugging us before going to bed. What's the world coming to? Teenagers!" Her Dad laughed from downstairs.

As soon as she was certain they couldn't hear her, she pulled out another suitcase from where she'd hidden it in her wardrobe and began to throw clothes into it. Would she need clothes for warm places or cold places? The coat Ghastly gave her should regulate her body heat to some extent, so she decided to pack the clothes she'd normally wear. She chucked in her wash bag and a box of tampons just in case. Should she bring a book? It would be a long drive… maybe two.

She then picked up her moneybox and took out all of the money she'd been saving: a little under two hundred euros. She had a lot more in the bank so it wasn't exactly an issue taking it out. When she heard her parents coming up the stairs, she quickly shoved the suitcase under her bed and dove under the sheets as quietly as she could, remembering to make her breathing even and deep.

Her door opened a crack as they peered in to check up on her. They didn't notice that she still had her normal clothes on thankfully and soon left. At this, she slowly inched out again and carried on packing. By half two she was ready. Using her necromancy to lower the suitcases down from her bedroom window, and then using her elemental skills to get herself down, she sat on the curb.

For about half an hour, she watched the sun rise over the ocean until Gordon decided to pop out of his echo stone and join her. He sat on the case holding the cradle and rested one cheek on his palm.

"You realise that if one of my parents looks out of their window they'll have a heart attack?" She asked.

"I'm perfectly sure they could handle it. I've known both of them for longer than you." He pointed out.

She grunted in response.

"Oh, and did you remember to let out your reflection?"

"Damn!" Gordon took this as a 'no'.

"And remember to have some breakfast. Starting the day on an empty stomach is the worst curse to put upon oneself. You should have something healthy, like an apple… or considering your partner for this, maybe something salty.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow! This one's 18 pages (without the extra spaces inbetween all the text). And 'the dispossessed' as a whole is 53 pages long! Actually, i think that shows more that i haven't been doing enough revision... :s<strong>

**Sorry about lugging Gordon along! I couldn't resist! Also, we needz moar comic relief because otherwise it's just going to be 'Caelan: intense look, Valkyrie: intense look' BORING. So yeah. But i'm not actually sure how big the cradle is as i only own the first and last two books, and the cradle's first mentioned in the second, which i got out of the library. So if it's wrong, sorry!**

**Rice crispies are a cereal brand in the UK for rice-pops. Their little slogan is that they 'snap, crackle and pop'. Also, eating them with sliced banana is the only way *dramatic look into the distance*  
><strong>

**Anywho, while i was writing this, i thought that i should probably do a quick spot of research on Fletcher to check he was in character, and I found the weirdest picture ever! If you put in 'fletcher renn skulpedia' into google and click the first result, you get a veeeeeery... um... _interesting_ picture of him. The best thing is is that it's offical character art! For some reason i've imagined him with hair like Jedward... not sure why.**

**AND i got my first ever review! Thank you so so much Tara! I was quite literally squealing and bouncing up and down with joy with my family as witness! *hug* **

**And now i know what RxR means... well you don't have to review but it would be lovely if you do ^^**

**Hope they're all in character and thanks for reading!**


	4. The Departure

Caelan had turned up bang on four, something that made Valkyrie a little suspicious. Unless he was just a naturally punctual person, she had a feeling that he'd been circling around Haggard waiting for her. '_But that's perfectly normal! People do it all the time_.' She reminded herself to prevent her mind wandering.

Due to the thick cloud cover, he was dressed more casually in dark jeans and a hoodie made from a thick fleecy material. The five 'o' clock shadow had disappeared from his face and he looked a lot less tired than he had when he'd appeared at her school. He seemed to glow with good health and his black hair managed to shine despite the small amount of light.

Avoiding eye contact, she asked, "Did you change last night?"

"Why?" Was his only reply. He was a little worried that she'd leave if she found out he'd released his vampire the night before.

"Just wondering." A wave of heat hit her as she got in the car. When Caelan came back from putting her suitcases in the boot (despite her protesting that she could to it herself) she casually commented, "Hot in here."

"I was worried about my lack of body heat." He muttered as he reached across her to pull out a map from the glove box. When he pulled back his hand brushed against hers, and Valkyrie was almost certain he'd done it on purpose. His hand was as warm as someone alive, yet as much as he'd like it he wasn't, for lack of better word, as squishy as a living person so at the moment touching him was rather like touching an eraser.

"Oh… thanks, but I don't mind. You don't have to do that."

"It's also four in the morning and you're shivering." He pointed out. Frowning, she realised that she was indeed shivering a little, something she hadn't noticed.

"That's weird." She thought out loud, hugging herself a little. She was pretty certain that Ghastly said the coat would regulate her body temperature…

"Did you sleep last night?"

"No. I was busy packing."

"Then you're probably just tired. You can sleep in the car if you want. It'll take about two hours to get to the dock and the ferry leaves at seven."

"I don't feel that sleepy." Were her spoken words, but both knew what she meant was '_I don't trust you enough to let my guard down that much_'.

As the final journey of the Bentley, the two hours they spent in the car on the way to the ferry were dull and more than a little awkward. Neither could really think of useful conversation so it remained silent until Valkyrie gave in to her temptation and opened the glove box to see what music he listened to. To her amusement, there were only cassettes of eighties music and the occasional Jazz number to go with the cassette player in his old car. Although, she realised, he was alive in the eighties frozen at exactly the same age as he was now… and the same went for the Jazz music from the late thirties. It was funny; she couldn't even begin to imagine how he would be back then. And it was then when a thought suddenly struck her.

"Caelan?"

"Yeah?"

"Were… were you alive in the Victorian times?"

"Uh… I guess." The wary look on his face signalled that he knew exactly where the conversation would be going.

"You guess?"

He sighed, exasperated at even the thought of having to pour out his entire life story. '_Although… if it makes her trust me more…_'

"Yes, I was. Well, right at the end of them. Why?"

"No reason… it's just… well… did you have muttonchops?"

"Sorry?" He spluttered, not sure whether he should be amused or shocked. He settled on the first.

"You know, those big side-burn things. And did you wear a top hat?"

"No. I wasn't from that particular class of people. I wasn't exactly rich, but I wasn't the poorest of the poor either."

"What did you do?"  
>"I fixed watches. Not very exciting, I know." The corners of him mouth twitched, as if he'd told it before and had received comments of '<em>you weren't an Egyptologist or explorer<em>?'

"You fixed watches?"

"Yes."

"That's really it?"

"Yes."

"So… no muttonchops?"

"No. No muttonchops. Ever."

"If you don't mind me asking… how on earth did you begin fixing watches?"

"My dad ran the store for it, so naturally the profession passed on to me. It would have gone to my elder brother, but he died when I was twelve… although what of I can't quite remember… it all becomes a little hazy after a while…" He gained a slightly faraway look before snapping back into reality and flicking the indicators on. Snatching a quick look at her before focusing on the road, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to sleep? It's another hour until we're there."

"I'm fine." She insisted, his speaking interrupting her thoughts. If he were alive at the end of the Victorian era, then that would make him at least one hundred. She was fairly certain of that anyway, but that just confirmed it. Yawning widely, she fixed her eyes on the road. "Do you want to play elevens?"

"Sorry?"

"If you say eleven you lose, and you can only go three numbers up from the one you're on now."

"Okay… uh… one two?"

"Three four."

"Five."

"Six…

"Seven… damn. If I say anything you'll win! Try again."

"One."

"Two… can I give up? You clearly know this game better than me." He smirked.

"It works better with more people. Otherwise it pretty much just becomes sixes rather than elevens." A small competitive smile worked its way onto her face. "I suppose it's a little unfair really. The first person will usually win… unless they make a slip up."

"No offence, but that was a pretty rubbish game."

"I'd like to see you come up with better Mr watch mender."

* * *

><p>When they arrived at the docks they were exactly twenty two minutes early, so they drove onto the ferry as soon as possible, choosing to wait on the boat. The silence had returned between them, but this time it was slightly more comfortable as some of the tension had been removed. It was a pretty town, albeit sleepy due to the time being half six in the morning. A fine mist hung in the air that clung to their eyebrows like tiny glass beads until brushed off.<p>

Not certain as to whether they could move about on the ferry or not, they sat in the car until someone informed them there was a small restaurant two floors up. The parking areas were fairly Spartan and composed of sheets of metal bolted together with the odd lick of paint as signs. Yet as soon as the sea breeze hit her as they got out onto the small passenger deck, all thoughts of the dingy parking area left her. Howling and spitting at the duo, it wasn't hard to imagine the wind as a sentient being that desperately wanted them off the ship. In fact, it almost seemed like a perfectly plausible idea. But then again, when vampires, animated skeletons and magic existed, who knew what was ridiculous anymore.

The small village of Northside-on-sea was… well… a small village. It had a population of almost five hundred people and seventy percent of them were retired. Those that were able to work either sat bored out of their minds in the one fish and chip take away, the post office, in the tiny fishing museum or worked out of town. There was little to do there and the only tourists it attracted were 'hardcore' crab anglers due to the vast numbers of shore crab, other than the odd fishing museum enthusiast with the fish and chip shop catering to them equally. In the summer months, the odd couple would turn up for a secluded beach holiday, only to realise their mistake when they saw their choice.

For beaches at Northside-on-sea there was a small shingle affair stuck between two steep cliffs that towered over it and blocked out almost all of the sunlight. For around half an hour each day, one would notice how each pebble gleamed and glistened as the suns dying rays illuminated them. Yet these were rarely seen due to the beach only being accessible by an endless set of stairs, followed by a steep mud slope resulting in the walk down easily taking ten minutes… and let's not even mention the walk up…

Yet there was something about the village that almost seemed to repel magic users. If by the off chance an adept turned up at the village, sooner than you could say 'skeleton detective' they would be off again due to 'bad vibes'. It was this particular feeling that had Valkyrie ask the vampire, "Are you sure this is the right place?"

Slightly baffled at this, Caelan pulled out what seemed to be a scrapbook and flicked through the pages until finding what he wanted and offering it to her. "Northside-on-sea is where the first fragment its." He then put it back into his bag before motioning his head towards the sign stood proudly in front of the village. "And this is Northside-on-sea, so I'm fairly certain this is the right place."

Pressing her fingers to the side of her head, she glared at the sign. Something felt off about the village, and not off as in send someone back later, off as in 'where's Skulduggery when you need him?' She could do with a few of his wisecracks to break the feeling of unease that was spreading over her.

"Is something wrong?"

"No." She barked. "Everything's fine. Keep driving."

"You need to get some rest."

"I'm fine. We need to start looking."

"I'm fairly certain humans need nine hours of sleep a day. We've been driving for the past few hours non stop, and if you didn't sleep the night before-"

"Fine. But can we at least go somewhere else for the night?"

"Why?"

Quickly trying to return to the previous conversation, she tried, "Where are we staying?"

"A B&B." He said dismissively, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Okay. You win. I'm tired. I guess even stalkers are right sometimes." At this his expression hardened. The car gave an unhappy lurch as foot hit the accelerator, leaving Valkyrie feeling as if she probably shouldn't have said that. Vampires were difficult creatures, and although she was fairly certain his 'love' for her would prevent him from physically harming her, she didn't doubt for a second that he wouldn't get in a strop.

The bed and breakfast they turned up at was cosy and unoriginally nautical themed. Upon knocking at the door, they were surprised to be greeted by a friendly middle-aged man with the beginnings of a comb over and a small goatee. He looked a little shocked as he welcomed them in and helped them with their luggage. The couple in front of him were certainly odd. One looked as if she could still be in school, and the other didn't look much older, however there was a certain air to him that suggested he'd been through a lot more than her. The school holidays were almost starting and they'd been experiencing great weather for the past few weeks, so he shouldn't have been too confused, yet one look at the village should have revealed to them that it wasn't exactly prime holiday making material.

Once the confusion had worn off, it was soon replaced by a nagging worry that as soon as they saw the long walk down to the sea, let alone the beach they'd be long gone. '_Best not tell them. At least that's one days pay rather than none at all_.'

"So. What kind of room and how long will you be staying?" The man asked.

"We're not sure. We'll start with two days to begin with." Caelan replied before glancing at Valkyrie. "As for rooms…?"

"Do you have any singles available?" The man looked slightly bemused by this as if he'd expected them to be a couple.

"Of course. Would you like the beds in the same room or apart?"

At this, Caelan said "Same room" at the same time as Valkyrie replied "Apart".

"Ah. If it's any help, together is a little cheaper."

"Fine. Together." She grunted and picked up her bags. "Where is it?"

"Just up here." He turned his face so that they wouldn't see the small grin on his face.

Valkyrie grudgingly admitted to herself that was a nice room. The walls were a pale blue and a thick cream carpet that oozed between your toes covered the floor with a fish shaped rug casually placed alongside each bed. A slightly crooked painting of an ocean scene was framed on the wall above Caelan's bed that amused Valkyrie for some reason. Perhaps it was because the fish had smiley faces. It was the painting and the extra bed in the corner that helped her decide that the room they were in was for kids. Another thing was the door that clearly joined on the room next door to them, and she would have bet anything that in there was a double bed.

Despite knowing he was taking the formula every night, she still found herself unable to get changed into her pyjamas and get into bed, let alone sleep. The fear of being eaten froze her, and it wasn't exactly an irrational fear. Caelan noticing her hesitance to get into bed made an irritated noise before saying, "I'm going out to see if I can estimate where it could be." And then added with a smirk, "And so you can sleep without fear of me eating you."

Her only response was to chuckle a little nervously.

* * *

><p>The next morning Valkyrie awoke at nine. Apparently her body decided that sleep was more important than keeping lookout for vampires, so she ended up sleeping for almost eleven hours. Despite claims that a lot of sleep is good for you, when she got up she felt so lethargic that she vowed never to sleep longer than ten hours ever again. Her eyes wandered to where Caelan's bed was, but thankfully he wasn't there, although there were signs that he'd slept in it at some point, something that made her feel a little weary and check for bite marks in the mirror. '<em>I doubt you'd have gotten off with only bite marks if he'd bitten you<em>.'

As soon as she'd showered and had breakfast she walked out of the semi-detached into the crisp morning air and inhaled deeply. There was just something about sea air that seemed to refresh people, although the strange aura still hung about, something that confused her. She'd hoped that it was merely a side effect of being tired, but it soon became clear that it was something more than that. A voice spoke suddenly from beside her and to her credit she barely jumped, "I've forgotten what it's like to breathe. Would you recommend it?"

"Caelan, remember what I said about the bell?"

"Not particularly."

"Here's a quick recap. If you don't stop creeping up on me, I'm gonna have to get you one of those collars with a little bell attached."

"Kinky."

Gritting her teeth to prevent a blush, she just about managed an "Ugh." before stomping ahead of him, although this served absolutely no purpose as he caught up with ease. Biting the bullet, she asked, "Any idea where to begin? It's not exactly a big place but if it could be anywhere…"

"And there's the beach as well."

"Combing through all that would easily take years. You found out the village… have you found out a more specific location?"

"No. Although given the notes I have… it's going to be somewhere old."

"How old?"

"I'd say from before I was born."

"Right… and I'm guessing it won't have moved. So it'll probably be in one of the old houses, and Victorian houses should be easy to spot."

Nodding, he pulled out the book and flicked to a bookmarked page. On this was the picture of the necklace, and if one looked closely, you would notice that there were three hollows suggested on the image. But from this you wouldn't be able to guess what they look like other than the fact that they're round.

"How will we know if we've found it? We don't know what it looks like."

"It'll reek of magic." He explained as if speaking to a child, something that Valkyrie really didn't appreciate… until what he had said hit her.

"Sorry, what? Is this another vampire thing?"

"Yes."

"Okay. But… if you can tell what it is just by sniffing it out… why don't you try sniffing for it now?" She demanded.

"Because this whole area smells of magic. I can't pinpoint it. I'll know if it is it when we're there, but until then I'm not much help in that sense."

"Well… that's still better than lugging off half of this villages jewellery with us when we go." Valkyrie shrugged. "Right then… hang on… if you could find it so easily, how come it hasn't been found before?"

"As you so eloquently put a while ago, vampires are dead so we can't get possessed by remnants. We'd have no need for an anti-remnant device. And we tend not to work with humans for long before giving into our predatory natures." His explanation was blunt but she understood where he was coming from.

"And you've never been hired out by someone for your sniffing skills?"

"You make me sound like a dog. And no; Grouse's formula was a fairly recent discovery."

"Recent being?"

"About fifty, sixty years ago? We aren't great with time."

"I get that impression sometimes."

Smirking, he asked, "Can you never be nice?"

"It doesn't compute with my inner workings." A sly grin crossed her face before she returned to the usual poker face. The buildings they passed certainly seemed old and a little derelict in places, but they couldn't have been from any earlier than the mid-seventies. Most of the drives had large land cruisers in them, shiny and near new in complete contrast to the house they belonged to. They certainly put Caelan's Ford Focus to shame. "The older buildings would probably be in the centre of the village actually. They'd build outwards, so logically the closer to the centre we get, the older the buildings."

"I was waiting for you to figure that out."

"Hey! You could have told me!"

"You looked like you were having too much fun figuring it out." This comment earned him a light punch on the arm, something he took graciously. Although he was a vampire, so he probably couldn't feel it, something that made Valkyrie pout on the inside. "It's not exactly a huge village. We're almost there. I'm guessing we're trying the 'start at one end and gradually work our way through' tactic?"

"Well that was what I was going to suggest. But if I get bored you'll have to play bloodhound." She quickly shot him a smile to dissipate any irritation he felt at her comment, and it worked.

The first old building they came across was unfortunately someone's house… as were the next three. After seeing these, they decided that it would probably be best if they left the houses until last. Caelan assured her that he could easily get in and find the jewel, but although it was terrible, Valkyrie didn't want to miss out on the action and forbid him to go in without her. Sitting down on a slightly damp bench, she turned to him and asked, "Would it actually be in a house?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I doubt those people are from before the Victorian times; not all of us are as long lived as you."

At this he chuckled lightly, "I'm young in comparison to most of us."

"You're still too old for me. Anyway, as I was saying, every time someone moves, they take all of their stuff with them and then it's replaced with other stuff. Unless it's embedded in the wall or something, it's unlikely to be in a house." At this, she got a sudden mental image of herself with a sledgehammer trying to break into someone's walls as quietly as possible as to not wake the occupants.

"Or in an ornate fireplace? People tend not to lug their fireplace around with them when they move."

"Yes… but people do remodel."

"Something tells me that the kind of magic on these wouldn't let it get moved easily. By non magic users that is."

"Damn. I thought I could strike them off. So… there are… seven houses on this street that look old. We'll start at either end and work our way towards the middle." Valkyrie decided.

At this Caelan suggested, "And the first person to get to the middle house gets to search it?"

"Exactly. But we'll do that later. We'll probably have to wait for the B&B owner to fall asleep before sneaking out."

"We wouldn't want to give him the wrong idea."

"No. Can't have that." They allowed themselves a quick smirk at each other before standing up again. The other buildings that looked suitably old were a post office, a very small village hall and a fishing museum. As with the houses, chances were that the post office wouldn't have it in due to the constant moving of stock and the fairly modern interior.

Despite hours of thorough searching around the rest of the village for monuments and statues, gravestones and so on, their search was fruitless. The closest thing they found to a gemstone fragment was a tacky plastic necklace, the kind with small florescent spheres strung together. It had been sat in the middle of the road looking sorry for itself, and judging from the dirt that had accumulated it had been there for a number of years.

Knocking on the door while knowing they'd have to stay another night was almost embarrassing. In a way, they'd expected to be done by then due to it being a small village, so facing the smiling man who opened the door made a small tang of failure shoot through their systems. One look at their gloomy faces made his smile a little less wide, but none the less he said, "I know this is a bed and breakfast, but I made some macaroni cheese for all of us if you'd like some. It's free of charge, my treat."

These words suddenly made Valkyrie remember just how hungry she was, and as a consequence her stomach rumbled loudly. Apart from breakfast all she'd had all day was a packet of ready salted crisps, so at this offer she was about to accept when Caelan shook his head with, "I have a very sensitive digestive system."

"It's vegetarian and nut free if that helps?" The owner tried.

"Sorry, but I have to bring my own food with me when I go travelling." He apologized before heading upstairs to his room. At this, the owner could see why Caelan seemed so sickly.

"He's a complete pain in the neck." Valkyrie sighed before realising her accidental pun. "But thanks, I'll join you."

The macaroni cheese was delicious, although not as good as her mum's version. There wasn't much talking due to Valkyrie emitting a slightly scary aura, but after a while the tension dissolved and a little small talk was exchanged, something she wasn't fantastic at.

"So, how are you finding Northside-on-sea?" Mr Simmons asked, which was the owner's name she finally found out.

Her fairly rubbish response was, "It's… um… pretty."

"It certainly is." He beamed with pride, not noticing her less than enthusiastic attitude. "So, I'm guessing he's your brother?"

"Sorry?"

"The boy with you."

"Oh! No, he's my cousin." They did look fairly similar, and since Caelan had provided her with the 'cousin' excuse a while ago she might as well use it.

"Ah, you look alike. You both seem a little… tense. If you don't mind me asking, did you fall out or something similar?"

At this nosy question, Valkyrie was left without a response. Deciding to improvise, she said, "We'd been arguing in the car about something stupid. Also, he snores really loudly and I wanted to sleep for at least a few hours a night."

"Family holidays, eh?" He grinned. "Have you finished?"

"Yes." Mr Simmons stacked the two plates before moving them out into the kitchen along with the dish of pasta.

"So, you're from… Ireland I'd guess? I'm guessing your holidays finish earlier over there."

"Yeah. We left a few days ago to visit our family who live nearby and thought we'd stop here before setting back. It's quite, um, picturesque around here. I heard you have a nice beach."

"Ah, if you're wanting to go to the beach, I'm sorry to say this but you may be disappointed. It's all shingle, and the steps to get there are horrendous." He sighed despite planning not to tell them; it would be wrong to pretend they had a beautiful beach with miles upon miles of sand.

"That's fine, we know. Anyway, it's getting quite late, I should probably get to bed. Thanks for tea, and goodnight." She tried her best smile (which she hadn't pulled in a while) before heading up the stairs.

Caelan was just injecting the formula into his arm when she entered, and thinking it was the owner, he quickly pulled it out and hid it behind his back as it looked as if he were taking an illegal drug, and with his complexion this wasn't something he could easily weasel out of. At this Valkyrie said, "Relax, it's just me."

He grunted something that sounded fairly rude and repierced his skin with the needle, injecting the misleadingly clear liquid into his bloodstream. Although while watching this, the more scientific part of her wondered, '_If blood's moving round his system, then he must have a heart beating to pump it round, and this means the cells must actively respire to produce energy… and this requires oxygen, so why isn't he breathing? Does he absorb it or something? No… wait… it'll just be magic_.'

Finished temporarily with the injecting of the formula, Caelan stood up and stretched. "Get a few hours sleep if you can, we'll be leaving at one in the morning, and being half asleep while doing it can only affect it negatively."

"Right." She muttered while trying to shake a certain feeling of unease.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm very sorry this took so long, and for the complete mix up with the other chapters! It took ages partially due to a huge amount of cramming for the last test I had which was undoubtedly the hardest and I'm fairly certain I can't get better than a D on, and then my buying of Portal 2, which is amazing and caused me to hog the computer for ages (also forget to write!) as it turns you into a mindless portal gun wielding vegetable<strong>

**Anyway, this chapter's the shortest with only 14 pages, but I don't think I could realistically make it any longer. There'll be some action in the next chapter hopefully (I know I said this last time as well, sorry!) But, without my authors notes (I think that's what this bold part is called anyway) I'm almost at 20,000 words, which is pretty cool as I didn't think I had it in me to write so much in such a short amount of time! Although, having said that, I hope that it still means I've maintained a sense of quality, as it's most definitely quality over quantity with writing. I'm not sure how far off I am of 20,000 with the authors notes though...  
><strong>

**And a huge thanks to Mademise Morte for reviewing all three of my chapters! Thank you very much! I had sent you a reply to all three reviews on the third one, and hadn't realised that private messaging had been disabled on my account, so if you haven't got it I'm very sorry and I'd be happy to write my reply out again ^^**

**And on that note, I was hoping I'd never say this as it just sounds so rude, but I'd really appreciate reviews. They don't have to be long at all, but some support would be great as I don't know how many people are reading this, so over time this may become less of a priority if I feel there's not much point if you see where I'm coming from? Just to say if you like or dislike how the plot's coming on, how the characters are and so on and it would mean a great deal to me, thanks! ^^**

**And thank you very much for reading! I'm hoping you're all enjoying reading this!**  
><strong><br>**


	5. Red Flowers

A gentle shake on the shoulder woke Valkyrie at the obscenely early time in the morning that had been promised. The owner of the hand committing the deed, Caelan, was crouched by her bed and looked somewhat odd. Sitting up and stretching her arms over her head, she tried thinking about it a little more but achieved nothing due to the blurred vision one gets after only three hours sleep. Sleep clung to the corners of her eyes, crusty and annoying to get away.

Getting ready took a great deal longer than it should have due to her body trying to get her back asleep again. After fifteen minutes getting changed out of her pyjamas, Caelan felt it necessary to lightly knock on the bathroom door to check she hadn't fallen asleep, which sums up how half asleep she was. When she saw him for the second time she realised that the reason he'd looked odd was due to a bad case of bed hair that clashed with his usually refined looks. Although, to be completely honest with herself, she kind of prefered him looking slightly ruffled (yet this may have been due to this making him look more like Fletcher than usual).

After finally leaving the bed and breakfast through either manipulation of air currents or general vampire skill, half an hour had passed. Once the initial feeling of sleep left Valkyrie's system, she soon found the unease at the feel of the area creep back into her bones and began to feel a little unwell.

The walk to the centre of the village only took around five minutes at a brisk pace, and since they were jogging theirs took three. Clouds obscured the night sky in almost all areas so they only light came from dim streetlights and the odd house that still has their lights on. The necromancy ring twisted constantly around Valkyrie's finger, as if it could make the rising feel of dread disappear, yet she knew full well that it wasn't merely a confidence issue. She'd broken into dozens of houses before, the majority successful, and couldn't even count the number of fights she'd been in even if she used every digit she owned. No, this was a more primal fear and just the thought of whatever it was that could make her scared sent chills running up and down her spine. She'd fought zombies, vampires (released and unreleased), countless magicians and necromancers, and lets not even begin to mention the faceless ones, so whatever it was… it would probably be bad.

Thick fog moistened the still air until it was almost as thick as the 'pea-soup' smog one used to get in London in the Victorian times. Remembering that Caelan was alive in such times she decided to ask him about it. Any distraction was welcome to rid her mind of the dread that seemed so dead set on worrying her.

He replied in hushed tones as to not wake the residents of the houses they were travelling towards, "You tended not to notice it except on days when it was exceptionally bad. Although thinking back… I guess if becoming a vampire hadn't fixed my lungs, I'd be, for lack of better word, hacking them up every ten minutes."

"Nice image." She smirked. "No, I'm glad it fixed your lungs…"

"Valkyrie? Being nice? Dost mine ears deceive me?"

"Because all that coughing would get on my nerves!" She ended with a triumphant grin, which resulted in a poke in the side and was returned with a cuff around the head. "And here I was thinking that all Victorian men were gentlemen."

"I'll only be a gentleman when you're a gentlewoman."

"Fat chance of that happening!"

"Exactly."

The fog was still rolling inland from the sea by the time they reached the square in the centre of the village. There was something almost cliché about the entire thing. Breaking into a building in the dead of night with heavy fog… although having said that, it was helpful in concealment. With the tall white buildings, heavy black shadows cast on their faces from the lattice of wooden beams, the area seemed almost scary… '_But when have I ever been scared of inanimate objects_?'

When indeed? It was about time that this stupid crippling fear left her the hell alone, so to further distract herself she did a few warm up stretches: touch toes, arms above head as high as possible, rotate ankles in circular motions and you're ready to go. Caelan merely gave her a confused look that she translated as being how he didn't need to stretch.

"For good luck." He grinned, something that puzzled her until he leant forwards and kissed her on the cheek. Speeding off so that she couldn't scold him, he set off to the building at the far end with fists shoved deep into his pockets and the last she saw of him was his ghostly pale hand disappearing into someone's house.

Valkyrie's trip into her building wasn't so easy, although the effort it took was welcomed into open arms. Having floated up to the window, she found the first few to be locked, which was rather inconvenient for her. Simultaneously remembering to float and then opening locks with air magic is particularly tricky with the sickness twisting and turning in her gut, demanding all her attention. It was only when she ripped off half her nail that her eyes were drawn to the nearby necromancy ring and she quickly manipulated the darkness in the room to flick the catch of the window up.

The room she found herself in contained a tiny child, no older than a year tucked into a cot at the side of the room. A mobile with cute dinosaurs hung above it, t-rex mingling with stegosaurus as they danced over its head. A pale purple coated the walls and happy looking bee stickers hovered eternally by flowers with smiling faces. Soft twinkling music came from the mobile that filled her with an odd sense of nostalgia that almost made her creep closer for a better look, yet she remembered that one sure way of ruining the mission would be to have the baby start crying, so she silently left the room labelled 'Stephanie'.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she slowly placed one foot down in front of the other. She was glad of this; the way everything seemed to slow down and intensify when under pressure was a feeling she'd missed gravely in the time after Tanith's possession. The corridor was near plastered with photos of the baby's parents; a handsome bespectacled man, and a tall blonde woman, who by the looks of it wore the trousers in their relationship. They'd been to all corners of the earth. Peru, Egypt, France and the USA to name a few. Valkyrie got so caught up ogling at the places they'd been to that she almost didn't hear the groan of wood as someone got out of bed and a loud "Ugh!". In those few seconds the air seemed to sharpen as she quickly calculated the direction they were most likely to go in and tried to spot somewhere to hide in the meantime.

The most likely candidate was a large wicker box for putting dirty clothes in. Worst case scenario being that she'd either come face to face with someone's dirty pants or get caught, so she quickly hopped in and tried not to move. Feet heavily smacked the ground alongside the basket due to the owner clearly being too sleepy to bother with elegance. Just looking at the feet with their smooth rounded heels and neatly manicured toe-nails made her flinch. Near endless bare legs were visible

When the basket opened up and a bundle of dirty washing fell on her, she couldn't restrain her breath from hitching in her throat. The person in front of her froze. It was too dark to see anything in the room, but that was soon changed when the lights were flicked on. For a few seconds, her eyes hurt as the sudden increase of light filled her pupils, contracting them insanely fast.

'_This is it_.' She told herself. '_I'm going to be branded as a burglar and go into hiding… although I'm sure that with some help on Skulduggery's part I could slip out of the public eye…_'

But the scream never came. No panicked voice, no jabbed buttons as fingers slapped onto the smooth nine key thrice calling the police. The other half did not come in hurling abuse, and nor did the baby start crying. Instead, an irritated male voice said in hushed tones, "Honey? Could you turn the light off please? It's too bright."

The woman sniffed, reaching inside the pocket of her pyjamas for a tissue before staring once again into the depths of the basket until she was satisfied she'd imagined the noise. Oddly enough there seemed to be far more washing in the basket than the last time she checked, including a crinkled black coat with red sleeves, but she shrugged it off; it wasn't her week to do the washing, that was her partners job for now, so she'd be damned it she paid it even the slightest bit of attention.

"Hang on, just popping to the loo. I don't want to fall over that goddamn cat again."

And so Valkyrie waited in the basket for a few minutes longer, poised to get out the minute the couple fell back to sleep. Wicker baskets? As if that was a half decent hiding place! She mentally scoffed the idea now, and knew full well that Caelan would also tease her for it, so she might as well tell him. Besides, how else would she explain the ridiculous length of time it took to search the house? He knew full well that her heart wasn't really into looking through the homes as she didn't believe they'd be in there. Best to own up herself.

Sitting there thinking about the situation, the topic of feet came back to her, especially when she finally climbed out of the box and onto her toes. Due to the situation, all of her senses were going into over drive and even the near silent creak of her shoes began to bug her. Not that she'd ever tell anyone, but Valkyrie had been training herself to walk barefoot on all terrain. At the moment she could only manage tarmac at a light jog, but she hoped that soon she'd be able to run across it. Her feet were still too soft from the years of wearing shoes, and she'd decided that such weak feet would only be a hindrance. She was fairly certain that Caelan could get away without wearing anything (although not in _that_way of course) as his body wasn't squishy or susceptible to the elements like hers was, and Skulduggery didn't even have feet really, so it wasn't an issue for them. Training her feet was merely one step on the 'make sure I'm never vulnerable' plan. After reading a book a distant relative had sent her, she'd been so irked about the heroines complete failure at… well at about everything that she was now taking matters into her own hands and vowed to never be a ditsy burden on anyone. If anyone was going to be the damsel, it would be Caelan damn it!

Rows of knifes glistened, reflecting the minimal amount of light with a grim determination to the room. This served to remind her of the dull throb coming from the finger with the nail ripped off. A slow and steady pulse of blood came from it, which although wasn't very much, still hurt, making her suck it and look like an infant. From the houses exterior, it seemed that the fireplace, if it had one, would be in this room due to the location of the chimney. But there was nothing other than an Aga cooker and a fan above it in the space where it should have been. Frustrated she gave the rest of the house a quick look, but it was clear these people were too modern to keep any of the older characteristics of the house despite Caelan suggesting the magic wouldn't let them change it.

Leaving the same way she came in, she was shocked to find that before vaulting out of the window the baby was looking up at her with clear brown eyes inherited from her mother. For a few seconds she worried she would cry and bring her parents to the scene, meaning she'd have less time to make it look as if she'd never entered, but she remained silently curious. Would this be what her sibling will be like? Valkyrie hoped so. It would be a pain to have one that constantly cried and spoiled eighty nappies a day.

Giving it a small smile, she hopped out of the window and only just remembering to lock it with her necromancy, left. The girl would grow up and oddly enough have a memory of a ghost sitting on her windowsill for the rest of her life, something that brought her great comfort throughout her life and that she only told the boy she decided was 'the one', which led to him proposing to her crouched on the very same window ledge. Not that she knew it yet, but Valkyrie would later meet the same girl completely accidentally in the same position on a window ledge in Venice while trying to find a self-proclaimed 'pied-piper' who'd been causing trouble.

The next house on Valkyrie's list was far easier due to it being vacant. Not sure as to how she missed the huge 'For sale' sign sitting proudly in the middle of the front garden, she was in and out in little over five minutes. The only furniture was a small wooden desk left over from the previous inhabitants, and she thoroughly searched that four times, even going as far as to sniff it to see if she too could smell magic as Caelan claimed he could. She couldn't.

After about five minutes sneaking about the third house (and trying to ignore the painfully awkward noises coming from the room upstairs) she was shocked to see a tall slim figure already in the living room. The light wasn't on, and she was fairly certain the occupants wouldn't do _that_ with a guest round, so like her they weren't supposed to be there. A lampshade was balanced on the bookshelf next to them, something that could come in handy if she needed a heavy object to knock them out with. She crouched in the shadows of the room, making sure she was in a good area to strike if she got even the slightest inkling they could attack her. The blood from her nail was suddenly painfully obvious to her when she recognised their movements, how he'd bend down in one swoop and elegantly run long, pale fingers along the underside of the fireplace. Fingers like a pianist, the romantic inside her murmured, yet it was soon replaced by the notion of surgeon's digits given the nature of the man. '_Although surgeons are cutting you up to help you get better. When he does that it's to kill you_.'

Shadows shifted slightly as the man stood again, and inclining his head ever so slightly whispered, "Valkyrie, please leave until your wound has scabbed over."

Not needing to be told twice, she padded up the stairs as fast as possible, not looking back and certainly not stopping to wonder how Caelan would cope when she was on her periods. The window slid up easily and to her luck, the couple weren't bothered with locking their windows, something that made it slightly easier for a quick escape.

'_But what if those people are bleeding somehow? Will he kill them? He's had his injection recently so he shouldn't… but if such a tiny cut got him worried…_' Her thoughts were stopped when what felt like a fist smacked into her stomach. Struggling to the nearest flowerbed, she managed to hold the vomit in just enough before the macaroni cheese came back up again. That feeling of unease came back to her and it was almost as if her limbs were moving of their own accord; muscles, tendons, innards and parts of her body she couldn't even name all felt the same intense urge to get out of the village and back to safety… where ever that may be. Instead of a punch, this time she felt a wave of repulsion pass through her and the rest of whatever she'd eaten in the past day came up.

Having to hold back her own hair was a pain, but she was glad no one had to see it. Although some comforting words would have been lovely. As a child she'd rarely been sick, but when she was it was usually a lot worse than the other children's. This had initially worried her parents greatly, but after her local doctor looked her over he informed them it was just how she was and to not worry about it. Although this was unlike any illness she had before. It hit her without warning. Most of the times when she felt ill enough to vomit, she'd have stomach pains for ages before, this time she did not.

"Valkyrie?" A rough voice said behind her. "I brought you this."

Thinking how she'd be pretty repulsive stinking of vomit, she gladly turned to face the vampire; thankful that at least she wouldn't have to worry about refusing his advances. Passing her a water bottle, she first splashed down her face a little, only drinking it when she was satisfied she'd removed all of the gunk on her mouth. Having not gargling anything in a while, she briefly relished the odd sensation before replying, "How did you know?"

"I had a feeling something was slowly making you sick here, but I couldn't pick up what it was until just now. Your blood was distracting me, sorry if I seemed rude."

Grunting, "Oh, s'ok." she returned to gargling.

"Incidentally, what happened? You took a lot longer than I expected."

"I was almost found." And she then continued to explain what had happened, interrupted only by a brief heaving of her stomach where she tried to be sick again, only to find there was nothing left. For but a few seconds emptiness filled her, a cavern in her stomach, her mind, the unease laughing somewhere at her misfortune. '_There. That's only for first course. You don't want to see what else I have planned for you_.'

But Valkyrie fought back, telling the unease that it was them who should be worrying about what she had in store. Darkness tinged the corners of her vision as the magic that hung in the air drew itself around her like a lace curtain, smothering the life that beat in her chest. It ignored completely the vampire by her side. He was already dead to them, there was no point bothering. And so she fell, unconscious at the moment, but who knew what would happen when she stopped fighting the invisible force?

Head met solid stonewall with a sickening smack. Small red flowers clustered, bloomed beneath her head and carefully contained desires burst out of strong holds.

* * *

><p>How long had passed since her head hit the wall… seconds… minutes… hours… years? The flowers had grown, she noticed, their petals large and glossy in the early morning light. They could almost be poppies, although the shape is wrong. Almost like a red cosmos… but do those plants really exist? They were on a game she used to play, a small village on a double-screened console. It was fun… but high maintenance.<p>

It just so happened that she'd landed in such a fashion that her watch was almost visible… almost. This irritated her to no end until she heard the noise.

Strange sounds came from just below her ear. They alternated between an odd slurping gulp and the 'mwah' of feverish lips leaving skin. Something was pressed onto her, something heavy and human shaped… but it couldn't possibly be that… could it? It was a little warm, but it was clear it was only like that because they were leeching her heat. "Exothermic reactions," she murmured silently, "Reactions that give out heat throughout my body, making me warm blooded… or is that because I can maintain it? But then why are snakes cold? Can they not maintain their heat? Are they not respiring?"

The noise stopped and a cool… thing (for lack of better word, her head was feeling tired) lightly rested on the side of her face, turning it to look at the sky. A familiar set of dark eyes filled her vision, she briefly took in the rest of the features, but there was so much red… it felt wrong somehow, so she focussed on the eyes… big pretty eyes. Were they male or female? Her head was tired… it couldn't care less. But when their face turned horrified and disappeared… something in her chest felt funny, it was if she wanted them to… stay?

Something pressed against her neck, a fabric, and a choking sound filled her ears. When she realised it was herself protesting at whatever was going on, a vivid red hot pain in her neck suddenly barged into her, and with a shock she was fully aware again.

Fingers reached out into the air before clenching around nothing, nails biting into her palms. She arched her back in pain, an odd hissing noise coming from her throat rather than a scream as if her vocal chords were on strike. Eyes, wild with anger as opposed to fear blinked rapidly, clearing away sleep and restoring vision. Muscles twitched, irritated at their sudden awakening but soon began to flex as she shifted them around, arms stretching to clutch at the fabric of a coat. It felt smooth, warm with the borrowed heat of a warm-blooded body and thick, designed to protect the wearer from stray fingers that may discover something they needed to hide. Legs slid back, folding neatly in the middle.

Fingers were continuously brushing over her face, removing imaginary strands of hair almost feverishly as they whispered sweet nothings, prayers to wake up. Her mouth formed the words, but no sound came… it didn't matter, the owner of the fingers wasn't looking at her, "I'm awake! What's going on?"

But no sooner had they cursed their existence she could feels someone's lips at the painful spot on her neck. The area around it felt soggy, but not cold. Valkyrie cleared her mind, forcing logic to explain, and it did. She had fainted, and while falling had hit her head on the low stonewall bordering the garden she'd thrown up into, causing it to bleed. And with Caelan there, denied fresh blood for so long… a passed out girl whose blood the monster within desired so badly… he couldn't help himself. He'd bitten into her neck and had been feeding off her for the past five minutes. The red on his face had been her blood, she realised with a jolt. But that other sensation… he must have been kissing her as well… disgusting! Did the blood turn him on? Could it be due to his vampire nature?

All of her energy went into her right arm, the most powerful, and delivered a punch straight up his face starting at the jaw. She may well have punched a rock; it was like when she was seven and smacked her face on the corner of a table in her living room, causing a huge bruise to form. Her parents brought back strange rubber casings to put on the edges of the table, cushioning them slightly. It only meant that instead of cutting her skin, there were a few millimetres of rubber before she hit her head. Still, it reduced the pain a little. This punch snapped him fully out of his bloodlust and sent him sprawled across the ground.

Eyes widened with shock, light hit the irises full on and she discovered Caelan's eyes were a very dark brown, almost like someone from Southern Europe or the Middle East. Maybe one of his parents was from there… no. Focus. Wandering minds while fighting a vampire were a stupid idea. Wiping the back of his hand over a red face, he staggered to his feet. The blood came off easily; revealing the stainless pale skin beneath, this both captivated and repulsed her.

The first meaningful words he'd said all day were dropped casually out of his mouth, "Shit."

And so he stood, unsure of what do to. He'd fed on the disgusting blood bags he'd brought earlier that night, and to top that off the hemlock and wolfsbane formula was still running strong through his veins, preventing the even worse vampire from coming out. She had been lucky. If it had been another night she may have been drained completely, something that would have meant the destruction of the Caelan she knew and the death of many in the village due to his distraught state. But again, she lived and still had quite a bit of her blood in her. Yet that was not the problem. She'd already staggered upright; she'd lost more blood than this in the past and was currently making her way towards a nearby tree for support; light-headedness making her dizzy.

"You… you… Caelan!" It sounded as if she were speaking to a dog that had just relieved itself on her shoes. "Please don't tell me all this is what I think it is."

On the floor was a large smattering of blood, mixing easily with the rain that had begun to fall a while ago. A quick check to his watch revealed that fairly soon people would be waking up, leaving their homes and potentially seeing them. This sent fear racing through his system. Blood loss wasn't what was frightening him, it was what came after the bite of a vampire. Everyone knew that once a vampire bit you, that was it, you'd become an infected. He still had a little time before this happened, but if he didn't act soon she'd become a vampire.

'_So what_?' A voice inside him whispered. '_She'd be like you, you'd finally be together forever_.' Yet this voice was replaced by the more reasonable one that laughed, '_Oh really? Together forever? What a ridiculous cliché notion. If I let her become a vampire the only thing that'll be 'forever' is her hatred of me for not healing her. Just because you have this disgusting disease, doesn't mean you have to pass it to her_.'

Walking slowly towards her, his huger now sated, he tried to go for a non-threatening pose with his hands in his pockets. Yet understandably, she wasn't in the best of moods with him and backed away quickly, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. At this he only sped up. He had no time for this; he needed to get her some antidote as soon as possible.

In preparation for their trip, he'd ventured once again into the Hibernian in search for the cure she'd had after being bitten by dusk. Knowing full well that at some point he'd bite her, he decided it was only best for him to take extra precautions and bring some of the cure with him. He knew exactly where it was, in the back pocket of his bag. Buried deeply in a small box the cure sat, innocent and bright purple in colour with small bubbles rising to the surface like in champagne. Purple champagne. It was in a small vial, designed to be poured onto the bitten area and was effective up to an hour after the bite.

Taking another step forwards, he was shocked to receive yet another blow as her knee winded him badly, smacking into his gut. She then used this opportunity to bring her fists down upon his head, knocking him to the ground. If it were not for the fact that he wished to cause her no harm, he would have easily disabled her.

"I don't want to hurt you damn it!" He hissed as she began to run. "So stop!"

And she did just that. Her steps gradually slowed down against her will as if something was restricting her movements. Panic ran through her body when she realised what was going on. The Infected will obey the vampire that bit them for the two days until they too become vampires, so this meant that she was already beginning to feel the leash of control Caelan's voice was slipping over her.

Valkyrie turned back to him, her mind franticly trying to find a loophole in his words. '_Stop could mean anything right? Stop running? Stop breathing… stop thinking_?'

Slowly picking himself up again, Caelan dusted some small clumps of mud off the front of his coat before continuing towards her. His eyes were calm to hide the worry behind them. Valkyrie would almost have preferred to say she was like a rabbit caught in the headlights as opposed to this where she was frozen merely because someone said so.

"We're going to go back to the hotel room and we're going to give you the cure because otherwise something very bad will happen." Each word was spoken slowly, individually as if speaking to a scared young child. She was indeed shaking, although he had a bad feeling it was with anger as opposed to fear. Although on the positive side she was definitely listening to his every word. "I'm going to carry you there. You have to pretend that you have anaemia, okay? You collapsed and hit your head on the wall. Look embarrassed that I'm having to carry you or something."

Any other time, she would have retorted that she didn't have to try hard to do the last part, but it was then when he decided it appropriate to scoop her up. "Wouldn't it be better to do a piggyback or something? It'll look suspicious if you manage to carry me all the way back to the B&B." To her delight, it seemed sarcastic comments were still allowed.

"And here I was thinking girls liked to be carried bridal style."

The control Caelan had over her restrained her from acts of violence, but that was it. Valkyrie decided that the worst she could do from then onwards was to ignore him. After he'd apologized for perhaps the eighteenth time without a response, rather than getting irritated like a normal human being he simply sighed, making her feel like she'd just spat on a baby.

When they got to the house, Mr Simmons took one look at the two of them before reaching for the phone. Thankfully Caelan grabbed his arm before he could dial nine nine nine. "She's got anaemia. It's not as bad as it looks." Valkyrie felt herself slipping a little and tightened her grip around his neck. He'd agreed to her piggyback ride request and had carried her back that way. Really, she would have preferred to avoid the melancholy vampire, but it was an unavoidable situation.

"Are you sure? Why is she bleeding?"

"I fell and hit my head. Really, it's nothing to worry about." She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile before she was carried to hers and Caelan's room. Gently taking off her jacket as to avoid the large bite wound (not to mention the collar that would zap him if he touched it) he poured the antidote onto the gaping wound on her neck. Her muscles tensed visibly as the vampiric disease fought against the cure… and lost. Before she knew it she'd nodded off to sleep from the physical exertion. A hand cupped her cheek. Caelan's. It was the last thing she remembered from that day.

* * *

><p>Hundreds of years before another woman walked that very path. Skirts flared out behind her and a small pillbox hat sat on top elaborate curls, all pinned up into a complex and elegant hairstyle. Her dark skin and hair instantly set her apart from the majority of others in the small village, yet she was used to it. Having a Nigerian father and English mother in such a day and age created gossip like no other. People back then were far more closed-minded. Dayo Nerezza was her name and she made sure people remembered it.<p>

In the early, Northside-on-sea was sustained entirely on fishing and the money it brought in through trade and other means. Fishermen constantly calling out to passers by, trying to sell their wares in the early morning before the sun was too strong and ruined their catch. Speaking of which, that day the sky was a brilliant azure, and the sea glistened. Dayo inhaled deeply, the sea air feeling good in her lungs compared to the usual smog of London.

"Does Northside please you milady?" Her courier asked her, the young man eager to impress a lady of such high class and beauty. He too had a round hat on, although his was of a different nature being red with gold trimming, identifying him as a courier. He can't have been more than 20 with a smattering of freckles and thick ginger hair that usually served to attract women, but not Dayo. If it were not for his unusual skills with magic he doubted he would have gotten the job at all.

"It most certainly does, thank you." She flashed him a grin. "Although you must remember, do not tell my mother."

"Do not worry about such things. My lips are sealed. However, as to this magical artefact you wished to… well, what do you wish to do with it?"

"I wish for you to remain silent if it is not too much to ask. Now then, where shall we be staying?" All hints of a smile were removed as she was faced with the grim task ahead.

The courier got her rather obvious hint and led her to a small house they'd hired (or rather bribed the owners to give to them for a few days). It was a basic abode to say the least with thin moth eaten curtains and off white walls. Dayo did not care to find out what it was that had stained them that way. Fish was the predominant smell in the rooms they went into and occasionally the smell of wet dog.

Pursing her lips, she asked, "Could you not have got somewhere slightly more… appropriate?"

"A-ah… well… y-you see-"

"Oh, never mind." She sighed deeply, untying the heavy cloak she wore and draping it on a hook. "Drat! This god-awful smell is making me feel terrible!"

"Of course milady." And with that the courier set off to mind the means to rid the house of the unfortunate smell. Really, he couldn't see why she didn't just use her powers as an adept to magic the smell away.

Once he'd left the room, she instantly set to work pulling out the various instruments she'd need (and of course those that she thought she needed but were on no actual value such as powder for her nose). One such was a small ornate box containing an artefact that if put into the wrong hands could be disastrous. Her great grandmother had created it centuries ago without thinking of the consequences and it was now up to Dayo to put things right.

Carefully placing a pair of glasses upon the end of her nose, she opened up the box and pulled off three gems from the artefact; it wouldn't work unless it was whole. Doing this alone took a lot of concentration and drained her of energy, but she managed it. She was of the correct bloodline so uncoding the magic that surrounded it was made a little easier.

At this the artefact dimmed, loosing its inner glow as the magic inside was lost. Dayo slowly smiled. She could now begin.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>The age old question we all wonder in vampire stories: what about when she's on her period? *shot*<br>**

**To make up for last weeks shortest chapter, here is the longest chapter so far! Although I hope that doesn't mean I just rambled or anything… :S**

**Just so any non UK readers are confused, over here if you dial 999 it calls the emergency services (i.e. police, fire rescue etc).  
><strong>

**This one is a lot less speech heavy. I think most of my writing is made up of people speaking, so I really tried to cut down on that here. I hope you still like how it turned out? Also, a tiny bit of action! Sorry, there's barely any due to Valkyrie passing out (gosh, how inconvenient!) Some Gordon next chapter! And a new character who hopefully isn't going to be too mary sue? **

**And thank you to everyone who reviewed! I've been replying on the private messaging, but I'm not sure if I've done it right? Either way, thank you very much for your support! I hope the blood-loss scene wasn't too trippy!  
>And as always, please review! It makes me squeal fo' real *shot*<strong>

**But seriously, I really appreciate it. Just to let me know if you're liking or disliking the plot or any of the characters. Not enough fluff? Not enough action? Needz moar lulz? Just say! I'd be happy to encorporate it c:**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. The Cave

From that day on, Dayo searched the village thoroughly. No rock was left unturned, no house unsearched and the surrounding landscape inspected carefully. It would be so very easy to merely dig a hole in the moors and drop the first gem in there, but while that would suffice for most magicians and non-adepts, she'd heard rumours of an adept who could quite literally burrow through the ground. The idea of this terrified her. Also, of course, vampires could quite literally smell the fragment she was trying to hide, but they were less of a problem since a remnant couldn't possess them anyway. However, just in case she made a note-to-self to place a strong spell over the area to mask its scent.

It was only after two weeks that she discovered the ideal hiding place. It was secluded, hard to get to and almost always surrounded by seawater to make it extra tricky for vampires to get to. Thick slabs of rock surrounded it at all angles meaning hopefully the weird burrowing adept wouldn't be able to get to it. But then there was still the matter of concealment. It was all very well to throw it in, but she may still have the need to recall it at some point, so it should be visible to her, but not so to others. And it was this matter that took the most time to figure out.

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><p>When Valkyrie awoke several hours later she was welcomed with a splitting headache and a ghostly apparition of her uncle. Neither of which she particularly wanted, although at least she could suppress one with paracetamol. Vision still a little blurred, she quickly passed her eyes over the rest of the room in case a certain leech was there.<p>

"Ah, Stephanie, you're awake! Didn't I tell you that vampire was a bad idea? Didn't I?" Gordon instantly began to lecture when he saw her eyes flicker open. Of course, most of the emotion in his voice was from worry as opposed to anger, although one did lead to another. "It's in their nature to bite. Like dogs. Dogs like biting as well, but that's beside the point, you're lucky he had some antidote otherwise you'd be an Infected by now!"

"Shit!" She jolted upright and rushed to the bathroom to stand in front of the mirror, fingers already tugging down the fabric of her shirt. Briefly registering the fact that she'd slept in her clothes, she was shocked to find the bite had been bandaged in a precise, efficient manner. She decided almost immediately this was by Caelan. The bite itself looked angry and red, yet there was no sign of infection. Walking back to the bedroom, she sat and asked her uncle, "Were you watching?"

The echo stone resident shrugged, "Of course. Well… I hid under the bed. I think the vampire would be confused if I popped up suddenly from nowhere. Also, I have no intentions of being found out."

"God I've messed up. What's wrong with me?" The young necromancer did not wallow often, but occasionally she felt the need, and now was such a time.

"What do you mean? Are you angsting… is that the term? Angsting? You young people make up the oddest of words."

"I've been feeling ill ever since I got here… and then yesterday I was actually sick and passed out."

"I don't think it would do any harm if you told me about how you got bitten first. Not that I don't care about your illness, but the bite would be a good place to start." Gordon pressed his fingers together and held them in front of his face as he sat on Caelan's bed opposite her.

"Why do I have this feeling you're only asking about that because it's more exciting?"

"Because you know me too well." Was his simple response. If he was made of something, Valkyrie may well have hit her uncle. After reciting as much as she could remember of the bite experience, she was a little confused at Gordon's raised eyebrows. "Why are you pulling that face?"

"What face?"

She replied with a helpful, "The one you're pulling."

"Whatever do you mean?" Which was a perfectly reasonable response given her last sentence.

"You've got your eyebrows up."

"Ah! Well… all I would say is that it's highly unlike a vampire to stop drinking before you're dead." He explained, demystifying his eyebrows.

"That was a little blunt."

"Sometimes one must. But as I was saying, your vampire must have fed very recently, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten off so lucky. And then to heal you! How much are you paying him? It better not be all of my royalties. I specifically put in my will 'do not spend on hiring vampires'."

At this she instantly protested, "No you didn't!"

"Okay." He admitted, "I made that up. But it's my will, so what I say goes."

"That's stupid. Anyway, I'm not paying him anything. Well, I'm paying him back for the ferry tickets, but other than that…"

"Vampires aren't charity workers Stephanie, good lord. If you're not paying him in money what are you paying him with."

Frowning she said, "Nothing. The only payment he wanted was stupid so I told him no, and he seemed alright with that."

Barely suppressing a groan he demanded, "What did he ask you for?"

"What? I'm not telling you!"

"Then I'll have to assume the worst."

"Fine! Go ahead!"

"He wants to sleep with you?"

"What the heck? No!" Although she suspected that may be one thing he wanted eventually...

"Have your firstborn son?"

"Now you're just being stupid."

"Your hair?"

"Why would he want my hair?"

"I'm someone's mortal essence confined within a pretty rock. I'm not exactly going to have Nobel Prize winning ideas."

"Just because you're being stupid, he wanted tuh ksmae." Despite wanting to sound nonchalant about the whole thing she began to mumble towards the end, meaning Gordon couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"Sorry? He wanted to what?"

"To-"

"Get back into bed, he's coming!" Her uncle hissed before disappearing. At this she had a millisecond of panic-mode before ducking under the covers in an attempt to look as if she'd been asleep. Really, she knew there wasn't much point; he'd be able to hear her heartbeat, but it was worth a try. The click one gets upon turning a key in a lock filled the room before the door creaked open.

Valkyrie would liked to have said that she could hear his footsteps slowly get closer and her heart beat escalated with every step… but of course this didn't happen. One second the door opened, and the next a cold hand was resting on her cheek as like the night before. She opened her eyes a crack, hoping that the darkness of the room would hide it but was disappointed as the darkness turned against her and she couldn't see anything. Barely concealing a curse, she realised that she wasn't wearing her necromancer ring. Although this wasn't really much a problem, she'd just have to use a more destructive form of magic: the elemental kind. But really, she was fairly certain she knew who it was. Once, she would have said she knew he wouldn't hurt her, but after yesterdays attack…

That line of thinking was promptly broken when she felt a pair of cool lips upon hers. At this she leapt backwards, hitting her head on the wall behind and cursing loudly. The guilty party sniggered by the bed.

"I knew you were awake." Caelan didn't even try to sound apologetic. "Quite apart from the fact that your heartbeat rocketed when I touched your face."

Valkyrie was now uncertain as to whether she should berate him and break the silent treatment, or pretend to be terrified of him. She was more inclined to the second despite knowing how much it would hurt him, but decided that she wouldn't lower herself to such a level. "I hardly think you kissed me only to see if I was awake."

"Feeling insecure?"

"You keep telling yourself that, Caelan. So what's on the agenda for today?"

"Sleep and high protein foods." He replied with a somewhat straight face.

"What?"

"You need to recover. You just lost a lot of blood and recovered from magical virus. I think you deserve to rest."

"And we all know whose fault it is."

"Charming."

"Listen, we haven't got time for this! We need to find all the fragments as quickly as possible, and me sitting in here recovering isn't going to help anyone-"

Her argument was stopped when he took her shoulders and gently pushed her into the bed, leaning over her in such a way that made her blush heavily.

"Caelan, what are you doing?"

"Please, promise me you'll stay here."

"You know full well that isn't going to work. I'm going and that's that."

At this his face fell so much that she almost, _almost_ changed what she said, but this would have contrasted with her incredibly stubborn personality. When he saw she wasn't changing her mind, he gave in and sighed, "At least rest for a while longer. I've ordered you some high protein foods.

At this she turned away, her stomach feeling increasingly ill at the mere thought of food. It seemed that that stupid uneasy feeling was staying despite having a completely empty stomach. Instead, she shoved Caelan off, threw back the covers and attempted to get up, yet she was stood for no longer than two seconds before a bout of light-headedness hit her, her vision blurred and darkened and she was forced to sit back down again. Swearing, she gripped the bed sheets between clenched fists with a, "Damn it."

"As I said," Caelan said in an irritatingly smug tone, "Either you eat and come out, or you sleep."

"Shut it."

And so a while later, clutching Caelan's arm for support, (although she let him know she'd rather have Skulduggery or Fletcher there instead) Valkyrie left the house. A large, bulky backpack sat on her back, weighed down by a picnic rich in high protein foods such as nuts, cheeses and chicken tikka. Teasingly, she poked the back of his head with, "You realise my breath is going to smell terrible after this right?"

"I had an inkling that would happen."

As soon as they were out of the house Caelan crouched down in preparation to give Valkyrie another piggyback ride. All she'd eaten so far that day were a few cream-crackers, so naturally no longer than two seconds after the door shut her vision blurred and darkened due to a bout of light headedness. Thankfully due to it being midday on a Wednesday, hardly anyone was about to witness their piggybacking, although one old woman tutted at them and muttered something under her breath about 'the youth of today'.

The most natural progression of their search would be to search the beach area for features such as natural caves and rock pools that could conceal the fragment. Yet one look at the near endless stairs with Valkyrie on his back made Caelan feel exhausted. Not to mention the richly salty air made his chest tighten slightly, and he had no doubt that the closer he got the worse it would be. It was one of the things he had never gotten about vampires. They had no need to breathe, yet as soon as they entered salt water their throats would constrict and they'd suffocate. The only explanation he could come up with was how their magic sustained their needs for air, and on contact with salt water it was removed and they had an allergic reaction of sorts? It was a little seedy, but it was the best he could think of.

"I don't think I'll be able to carry you down there." He admitted to her as she slipped back off. "The salty air is making me feel weak. Sorry"

"It's no problem. I've walked down worse stairs after extreme blood loss." His wince at those words didn't go unnoticed by her. "Although I think I may be able to handle a bit of that food now."

Valkyrie ate the food in silence and this was mainly to do with her immense concentration on forbidding herself to throw it back up again. The food itself was delicious; Caelan had gone out and bought all of the most expensive brands. It was almost as if he was trying to make up for the fact that he'd bitten her with posh food. Well, if he thought that was going to work, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

Once lunch was over with they began the long climb down to the beach. The steps were clearly very old and mere hunks of rock hammered into the side of the slope. Although in more recent years the local council had provided them with money to put a small railing for the first twenty metres. It wasn't much, but it was something and proved to be very helpful for Valkyrie's lack of strength. Caelan wasn't faring much better; he was soon panting, which due his vampire state wasn't helping him in the slightest. It was probably an old instinct or reflex. A quirk that remained from his human days.

For the first fifty metres the path was open and nowhere near as steep as they'd imagined, although as if fate had heard them it soon became little more than a sheer drop with notches for feet. Sun began to beat down heavily making Valkyrie sweat even more than she already was and Caelan burn, although thankfully a grove of trees obscured the next part of the path. They rested here for a while, Caelan for a sip from a darkened water bottle (of which Valkyrie was certain didn't contain water) and Valkyrie for some actual water and a cheese sandwich. It was a bland meal, but it stayed put in her stomach so frankly she didn't care. They soon set off again, reaching the incredibly steep mud slope to get to the beach. This final stage was such heavy relief that a piece of rope tied to a tree at the top was needed to get down. Deciding that he'd stare at her butt (which was probably true), Valkyrie dictated that she'd go down first. Of course, he played the martyr and said how 'it doesn't look safe', 'I'll go first just in case' and 'I'd gladly die for you'. She said 'cut the crap' and went first anyway.

Easier than it looked, it only took her three minutes to get to the bottom and then spent another three unwittingly looking at Caelan's butt while waiting for him to get down. When they finally both reached the beach Valkyrie was panting and sweaty, and Caelan was covered in peeling, red sunburn that was as painful as it was unattractive. Coat tied around waist, she set to work looking at rock pools whereas Caelan stuck to searching for sea caves due to his seawater 'allergy' or whatever it was.

Low tide was half an hour away, so she happily spent the time sifting through the miniature oceans. In an hour she'd not only found three tiny fish, seven anemones, over ten large shore crabs (as this was the shore crab capital) but also a beautiful ammonite fossil which pleased her immensely. It fit neatly into her palm, smoothened buy the endless waves that had crashed on it and neatly round like a skimming stone. Slipping it into her jeans pocket, she continued her search as she still had not yielded any results.

"Caelan?" She yelled, her voice carrying over her shoulder easily in the strong winds. "Have you got anything yet?"

"No!" He cried back. "I guess you haven't either!"

"Correct watch-boy!"

They met up again well away from the tide line to compare results. All Valkyrie had to show was her fossil, whereas Caelan had identified a cave that could possibly contain the fragment.

"There's a higher abundance of magic in there. It's marginal, but it's worth a shot. Want to go in with me? It's a tight squeeze but we should manage." He explained hastily, excitement breaking through his 'I'm a sophisticated guy so I don't get excited by such things' face. Although Valkyrie found this endearing much to her horror.

Cut into a huge slab of multi coloured rock, the cave lay patiently with huge jagged slices of stone guarding the entry. It was almost as if it were teasing them. '_Bet you can't get through this into me_?' She could almost imagine its words.

The explorer within her reared its head and she found herself squeezing through the small gap and tumbling onto a smooth floor. A few grains of sand found their way into her nostrils and as a result she sneezed. The 'ACHOO' echoed around the cave, suggesting it was larger than first appeared.

"Gesundheit." He said offhandedly before continuing with, "This must open out somewhere up ahead… hang on, I'll get out my torch."

"Thanks. And yes, I'd guess so." Standing up again, she'd taken no more than two reverberating steps before a hand grabbed her arm.

"Wait, don't go without m-… a torch." The torch was handed over to her via passing over her shoulder. On the return the hand committing the deed rested on the crook of her neck and he whispered, "Stay close."

Snorting, she replied, "It's not like you're going to lose me anytime soon Caelan, lets be realistic. It's pretty narrow. I'd have to be anorexic before that'd happen, and lets face it, I'm not the skinniest girl out there."

"No, you're muscular… yet curvy." She could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Feeling me up in my sleep huh?" She grinned.

"But of course. You know me."

"Can't keep your hands off me."

"Nope."

"Ah." She paused for dramatic effect, "But you should know, I'm a taken woman."

"Damn! If only I had known that before hand."

"Sorry to break it to you."

They chuckled for a while, eager to shake off the fear brought on by the darkness of the tunnel even if it meant teasing each other about her love life (which she would normally have forbid). Every now and then a rounded outcrop of stone would dig into her side and she'd be forced to stop and figure out a way to edge past it. The further they got in, the worse the unease in her stomach felt until she was on the verge of wanting to throw up again. The sand beneath their feet soon turned to stone which meant bruises for certain if they fell. Slabs of this stone surrounded them from all angles, composed of a dark sedimentary rock. The cave had probably been there for centuries of not millennia. This would have made them feel very small if not for the sides hugging them tightly. In fact, most of the time Valkyrie was surprised there was enough air for her to breathe since there were no plants inside to produce the life giving oxygen.

As they'd predicted earlier on from her loud sneeze, the cave was infinitely larger than it looked. The path they'd been on so far had lasted at least two hours provoking leg cramp and irritated conversations. Not only this, but it was also freezing in the cave. It was all fine and dandy for the vampire who lacked a body temperature (much to her irritation), but for Valkyrie she soon found herself longing for a hot water bottle. Her only source of amusement at that time was a faint tapping noise coming from behind her. Nails met the stone wall around twice a second with little variation and this had been going on ever since they traded the sunlit world for this light deprived excuse for a cave.

Giving into her curiosity she asked, "Caelan? Is that you?"

"Is what me?"

"That tapping noise."

There was a pause as if he was thinking about to say before he sighed, "Yes. It's a habit. I'm not too fond of being underground… in small spaces. It's too coffin-like."

"But you're a vampire!" She chuckled. "I thought you were into that kind of thing."

"No." Was his only reply. It seemed he didn't want to talk any further about the matter.

After another long period of edging their way along the narrow corridors of rock they came across their first proper obstacle. Valkyrie would have walked into it were it not for Caelan grabbing her arm and firmly pulling her backwards. At this she fell over and bruised herself quite badly on the cold stone floor. Not realizing that he'd saved her life, she snapped, "What the hell was that for?"

"Look," He hissed, motioning towards where the floor literally disappeared beneath them. The bottom of the pit was not visible even when they both shone their torches down it, suggesting that like with the cave itself, this was far bigger than it looked. They even tried the old 'hurl a rock down and see how long it takes until it hits the bottom' technique, yet that's pretty redundant when one cannot hear it land at all. Even Caelan with his creepy vampire hearing was at loss. Their diagnosis: very deep.

"For some reason I feel a little hesitant trying to cross it... Not that I can see a way across." Valkyrie murmured while inspecting it the best she could with her torch.

"You know," He began, "This may just be some weird tribal custom from when I was young... but back then people tended to thank the person who saved their life." He shrugged nonchalantly, "But again, it's probably just an odd thing we used to do."

"Okay, okay! I get it, thank you, Caelan! You don't have to get moody." And then on some impulsive decision-making lightly pecked him on the cheek. And then pretending she hadn't done it carried on with working out how to get across. Preferably she would have liked to take a run up and leap across with the aid of her elemental magic, yet this was impossible due to how narrow the passageways were.

Another option would be to press ones back up against side and feet upon the other and shuffle the entire length of the fissure. Thankfully, Caelan was keeping silent and fairly reasonable about the kiss on the cheek as opposed to blowing it out of proportion like she expected him to. Although, he did have a silly looking grin on his face whenever he thought she couldn't see him... The final idea she had was very sketchy, but if it worked it would remove a great deal of time off how long it would take to get across. The fundamental idea was sound; it involved using her necromancy to produce 'stepping stones' for them to walk across. But this wasn't the issue. That was if she could carry both of them across not only for a long period of time, but also in her weakened state. As much as she'd like to deny it, she most definitely was not in peak condition; she had lost quite a bit of blood (no thanks to a certain vampire), was running on very little foodstuff and felt rather ill.

"Any idea on how to get across?" He asked in an oddly hesitant fashion, as if carefully choosing each and every word. "There doesn't seem to be a simple way across."

"Well we can't stop now, Caelan. I hope you don't think I'm going to give up because of this. Because I'm not. We didn't come all the way out here for nothing. I didn't get bitten by a freaking vampire for nothing! We are crossing this if it's the last thing we do!" She cried, alarming Caelan a little on her mental wellbeing. He'd clearly never heard her in such a state before. There was a strange lilt to her voice that suggested trying to reason with her would be pretty redundant.

To test her necromancy idea she formed one of the proposed stepping-stones above solid ground before trying her weight on it. It was unlike anything she'd ever stepped on before. Condensing a little as she shifted her weight about with small tendrils of cold reaching up at her ankles, snapping like terriers as they fought to get her attention. Seeming safe enough, she turned to face Caelan and show him her idea only to have the platform dissipate as soon as her eyes ran over his face. '_Damn. It looks like I'm getting distracted by him_.'

Narrowly avoiding a cliché fall-into-the-safety-of-his-arms situation, she got to work making another. Yet unlike last time this one failed almost immediately, prompting her to question if she could be exhausted of magic and if so would Caelan know anything about it. In a way it made sense. Again, she was tired and ill, it was perfectly reasonable for her to be unable to conjure such solid amounts of necromancy.

"We've been in this cave for about three hours now. It's almost seven. Do you want to call it a day? You're not really in any condition to make steps or whatever it was to cross yet." Caelan suggested. At the mere thought of sleep she found herself yawning, something she was mildly embarrassed about. "Although we've also got all that food to eat. You should probably have it before it goes off."

"That's probably the first good idea you've had in a while." She teased in return.

"I think you have an attitude problem."

"Sorry, but I'm not sure about the food. I'm still feeling ill. If I'm sick now it's going to stink up the place."

"Eloquent as always."

"You know me."

"Well… you could always throw up into that bottomless pit." He pointed out.

"That's actually a good idea."

As they hadn't brought any bedding materiel Caelan graciously gave Valkyrie his coat to use as a blanket, and she used the backpack as a makeshift pillow. Surprising herself, she managed to eat quite a bit and keep it in her stomach. After eating she instantly felt tired and nodded off to sleep fairly quickly. Since Caelan technically didn't need to sleep he volunteered to keep watch while she slept, although having said that there wasn't much to watch over. Injecting the formula into his arm was the highlight of the night, which sums up how boring it was. Occasionally Valkyrie sleep-talked, yet unlike the romantic notion of saying his name, she instead mumbled something about which vinegar to use in a salad dressing. Most of the sleep talk was composed of meaningless gibberish however.

A few minutes in, Caelan found that even if he had wanted to fall asleep he would have been unable. One of the most disconcerting things about the cave was the complete silence. The sound of Valkyrie breathing was almost deafening in comparison to the cave. Every twitch in her sleep would produce so much noise he'd jump. And that wasn't the worst part. The darkness seemed to press in around them like a living creature. Caelan wasn't particularly fond of the dark when he was a human, and unfortunately it hadn't left him when he became a vampire. Whoever said you became braver after contracting a magical disease was a moron.

Slowly but surely the torch began to run out of power. He first began to notice it after adjusting Valkyrie's makeshift blanket for what must have been the twelfth time in an hour. Hesitantly he began to recharge it. At the first 'VWOOM' after cranking of the handle his heart leapt into his throat; it seemed incredibly loud. Caelan wasn't a naturally superstitious person (although after he was infected by a vampire he became a little more open minded), but with all the tricks his mind was playing in the dimming torchlight it was easy to forget what was real and what wasn't.

'_Imagine if there was something further down the cave_!' He told himself. '_Winding up that torch will have them speeding over here to investigate_.' And he wasn't prepared to put himself into that kind of danger, let alone Valkyrie. He'd need to hear her sarcastic voice once more before throwing himself into unnecessary danger. '_That would possibly be worth it_.'

With the morning, or rather when the alarm on Valkyrie's watch went off, both occupants of the cave awoke. At some point Caelan too had fallen asleep, something that shocked his since his body felt no need to sleep. She was tempted to brightly cry 'good morning!' but decided it would be out of character and serve only to confuse poor Caelan.

The daunting obstacle in front of them still offered no solution and they were forced to spend another half hour thinking of a means across (after breakfast naturally). Once more Valkyrie conjured her necromancy steps, expecting them to fail, yet this time they stayed. Giving a hesitant glance towards the vampire she was bemused to find that despite yesterday's antics the stepping-stones stayed. At this a slightly predatory grin stretched across his face as he joined her on the necromancy platform.

"How long do you think you can sustain this for?" He asked, curious at the strange idea she had. It was certainly one of the stranger things he'd done, standing on what was essentially condensed shadows and death and then perhaps using it as a path! Insane.

"I have no idea." She admitted. "It seems fine now but it could collapse at any second..." And then as if suddenly realizing just how close Caelan was to her she took a step backwards off the platform. "But this is going to work."

And a few minutes later she'd conjured up a strange ghostly path that disappeared off into the distant areas of the cave. The plan was to run as fast as they could until she gave the signal where they'd jump up with their backs on one wall and feet on the other. From there they'd shuffle across to the other side. It wasn't an elegant plan, nor would it have a high chance of working, but it was the best they could do. Valkyrie was hoping that she'd feel it when her necromancy was weakening. It wasn't exactly a very safe way of judging it, but what else could they do?

"Okay." She started. "Three, two one, GO!"

* * *

><p><strong>Wow! I'm very very for the delay everyone! My laptop died recently so I thought I wouldn't be able to do any work on it. Thankfully my super awesome sister reminded me to back the dispossessed up before my computer broke so it's thanks to her this is being updated now! She saved me from writing up ten pages of writing! <strong>**Anyway, so what'll happen now? Well, until I get a replacement computer I'm having to write it on my i-pod touch and then transfer to my sisters computer and put it together on here. Hopefully it won't be delayed too much, but updated will undoubtedly be slower now, sorry everyone!**

**And on another note, why on earth does everyone have such silly names in this? Valkyrie and Caelan are really irritating to write out, I'm tempted to call them Sue and Bob! And when you sleep talk, you so don't say cool things. I sleep talk and i talk about... flatulence... so I've made Valkyrie a little more elegant than me here!**

**Next chapter is going to be TRIPY. Something to look forward to hopefully? Not in terms of writing style like with Valkyrie's blood loss scene, but more weird events liked to the next gem.**

**Please review to make me dance like a madwoman! C:**

**And as always thank you so much to all those who review, you make me a happy happy person!**

**Thanks for reading! ^^**


	7. Lost Myself

They were off. Arms pumping and leg muscles contracting and relaxing in their endless cycles. Thankfully the path was fairly wide at the top, meaning they had plenty of space to run, which was exactly what they needed at that point. The very second Caelan's foot left the necromancy path that small part of magic would rearrange itself in front of Valkyrie and so on. It was almost like running on a conveyor belt the way the floor it self seemed to stay fixed in one position. The pathway was taking almost all of her concentration, meaning there was little room in her mind for dodging obstacles despite how one of these could halt the path and send them tumbling to their doom.

The event should really have made them feel claustrophobic due to the closeness of the walls. After about ten minutes their running had slowly but surely devolved into a jog and then to a brisk power walk. Needless to say if it weren't for Valkyrie keeping a very close check on her temper due to he distraction she may well have slapped the walls in frustration. In fact she was on the verge of slapping Caelan for his stupid comments regarding the necromancy bridge; could he not tell that if it didn't get her full attention they'd both plunge to their deaths? Evidently not.

Furious panting filled the air, although it was only useful to the one who needed to breathe. Valkyrie swore that if her lungs gave up after twenty minutes like this once more she'd try to go to the gym more often. For the sidekick of the skeleton detective one needed to be very fit. _'It's because of Caelan. I must be getting soft around him_.'

She could feel the sweat running down her neck and then down between her chest. At this horrid sensation she briefly wonders if vampires could smell better than humans, because if they could then Caelan would be having a terrible time behind her. Heck, even she could smell her body odour, and it wasn't pleasant. As if her body wanted to spite  
>poor Caelan her hair was smacking him in the face with every step due to the size of the necromancy pathway. <em>'Should I apologise? It's not really like I can control my hair but still... I have been kind of harsh on him recently<em>.'

Turning around quickly to flash him a quick smile she was suddenly struck by the panes of his face. The torch strapped to his forehead cast strange and heavy shadows under his nose, narrow cheekbones and brows. There was something predatory and, obviously, vampire like about it that made her mind slip from the task at hand and instead focus on his face. It was Caelan who noticed the first shudder of the path.

"Eyes off the face and onto the road." He instructed, but it was already too late. They both leapt up to plant their backs firmly against one wall, and then their feet against the other. Yet for Valkyrie her desperate grip on the torch meant that she hadn't quite got into position and before she knew it her entire body slipped an inch... and then another... and another until she was almost at the bottom of the wall. What lay underneath, who knew? Valkyrie certainly didn't and at that moment could hope for nothing more than to have a quick death. She cast a terrified look towards the vampire, something that made him want nothing more than to hold her close and never let go.

"I... I... the torch... Caelan!" She screamed before her grip suddenly gave way and she dropped.

"VALKYRIE!" He cried and without remembering all the comments he'd made about enjoying immortality curled up and allowed himself to drop too. If they were going to die then they were going to die together damn it!

Caelan was by no means a large man. About 175cm, slim build and no more than sixty kilograms he couldn't have weighed much more than Valkyrie. You'd be hard pressed to find a large vampire; the shedding required of them each night requires vast amounts of energy so most fat is burned off within the first month of becoming a vampire. Further more if a vampire wasn't eating particularly well (i.e. insufficient amounts of fresh blood) they'd often eat their shed skin. In a way it was more efficient as the biomass didn't go to waste, plus there were no husks left behind for casual passers-by to scream at.

The last thing he remembered was a loud splash and the taste of salt…

* * *

><p>Darkness surrounded Valkyrie completely. Hair and fabric floated around her as if in antigravity and the odd bubble floated past her face. Was it air? Was it water? She couldn't say. Her mind was paralyzed into a state of simplicity where nothing made sense… but then it didn't matter to her at that moment. It was beautiful.<p>

A beam of light pieced through the matter that surrounded her and briefly startled her as it shone into her eyes, however less than a second later it span around almost lighthouse like. It was getting further away from her so even if she could feel any fear it would have receded. This briefly made her wonder what it was. Could it be some strange cave monster? That was hardly likely; it seemed big and something that big wouldn't be able to sustain itself on such small meals. But what if it was… could she die again?

And it was this thought that snapped her out of the strange zone she was in as she realised it was her torch slowly sinking to the base of a lake. Suddenly her lungs burned, her muscles cramped and ached and her eyes stung painfully. Inhaling sharply at the sudden realisation made water gush into her mouth which served to make her choke and inhale more water. The thin trails of bubbles were just visible floating upwards, and with this a small piece of information opened up in her mind. '_If underwater and you don't know which way is up follow the air bubbles_.'

So she did just this. Her legs hurt and near refused to move, but she made it and began to swim. The surface was far away due to how high up she'd fallen from. She must have been metres under judging by how much her ears ached, although despite this she couldn't even begin to see the bottom. Was there one? Her logical side screamed 'duh!' but then again she _was_ trying to find a device to remove a lost soul from someone with a freaking vampire, so who knew what was real or not?

Then, air! It was like breaking through a membrane when her face breached its way into the surface realm. Sweet air! Never before had the stuffy and stale cave air tasted so nice! In fact, never before had _any_ air tasted so nice. It was funny how much humanity took air for granted by polluting it, burning it and so on when what they should have been doing was trying their best to conserve it. After all, without air we would be nowhere… and dead. There must have been a large underground lake in the cave system… how had no one noticed it? It wasn't the hardest of things to find, although she supposed that as with most things important in the magic area there were spells that didn't allow those without magic in. For a while she enjoyed the air filling her lungs but was rather rudely disrupted when something almost dropped onto her from above. The water had almost stilled from when she'd dropped in, yet now it was choppy like the surface of corrugated iron again.

Peering underwater she saw something that completely shocked her. There was another light spiralling, but this one had a face beneath it. They span slowly as they drifted down. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was her vampire companion sinking down into the lake. Why wasn't he swimming? And what was with that ridiculous pose? His hands gripped at his throat and his mouth was stuck in a wide mouthed grimace as he tried to get to the surface. For a few second she wondered '_Is this his idea of a joke_?' But she knew full well that Caelan wasn't one for such jokes. Her tired mind took a while to work out why he was choking when he didn't even need to breathe when she suddenly remembered how Caelan was having trouble with his chest whenever the wind blew in from the sea. This led her to the little Infected adventure where she'd led a group of Infected into the ocean and they'd died from the saltwater. Tasting a bit of the water she found that although it seemed fairly fresh there was a definite tang of salt to it. That was it! His body was having an adverse reaction to the saltwater and his throat was closing up. For him, breathing itself was unfamiliar territory, but now that his body wanted air again it was also denying him it.

For a few seconds she merely watched as he sank. It would be easier if he died… wouldn't it? She would never have to worry about his 'subtle' hints towards getting together or being found out; their relationship was hardly fixed on the platonic side of things anymore. On the one hand all they'd done was kiss once (or twice if you counted the 'I'm totally only checking to see if you're awake' one, which Valkyrie certainly didn't) but there was no way they'd be able to hug or hold hands without it being vastly awkward. And it was then when she realised that the thought of leaving him to drown pained her. A dull ache in her heart took over all rational thought as she swam towards him. Caelan's water filled lungs made him sink far fasted than she could swim due to the air in her system keeping her afloat. Deeper and deeper she dove, ears popping and whining as the pressure increased. He was almost lost from sight now. '_Damn it_!'

Barely thinking she shot out what appeared to be a net made from necromancy that scooped him up towards her. As soon as he reached her she kicked her legs violently and tried to ignore the fact that he was no longer moving. He could always be conserving his energy, she decided, and that line of thinking was certainly right. As soon as they broke the skin of the water his arms snaked around her as he tried to climb up completely into the realm of air and in the process of this managed to push her down into the water and inhale quite a bit in her shock. Once up he was in the air he coughed up all the water he'd inhaled he was confused to feel someone struggling furiously in his grip. This person managed to smack him hard enough that he fell back down into the water, something he most definitely did not want.

It was at that moment that his torch went out and darkness fell upon them once more. The vampire (for at that point Caelan was not himself) let out a slow guttural hiss when its head re-emerged from the water. It didn't know how it got there, and why was its chest hurting so much? It ached and burned, begging for something that was completely foreign to the monster. But the human instincts buried deep down understood what was happening and broke through the disease's control, made him _breathe_… in and out and in. But something was wrong, it could feel something in his lungs, and so the human instinct took over again and made him cough and choke until the water was out. It had forgotten how good it felt to breathe.

This change did not go unnoticed by Valkyrie. It was clear that he'd been under so long his instincts were dictating what he was to do. Remembering what her Dad had taught her a long time ago served to enforce this: a drowning person will most likely cling to you and eventually push you under in their effort to get out of the water, and Caelan was most certainly doing this. What she'd need to do was grab him under the armpits and drag him to shore, but a) she couldn't see anything and b) he was likely to attack her in his terror. Vampires didn't have good attitudes at the best of times, so when suffocating she didn't doubt for a second that he'd attack her. The best option would be to pin his arms behind his back and tow him that way, but again there was no light to see him by, so instead she'd have to guess and hope she wouldn't grab his mouth or somewhere worse accidentally.

A serried of loud splashed came from her right, and since he was the only other thing capable of creating such noise (so she hoped) that's where she'd aim. Swimming as silently as one can, she waited for him to calm down a little and lunged! Very luckily for her she managed to grab his arms, although uncertain as to which way he was meant that when she thought his arms were safely pinned behind him she felt a pair of teeth graze at her shoulder. '_I'm _guessing_ he's the wrong way round_.'

Freeing herself before he did any serious damage she dived, hoping he wouldn't be able to reach her down in the water. Besides, even if he knew she was there she doubted he'd go looking for her; the water would close up his airway even more than it already was. Hoping for better luck the second time she lunged again but instead grabbed his neck… and an idea hit. If she knocked him out she wouldn't have to worry about him trying to attack her or struggling… but then again he may well need to stay conscious to live, so instead she slipped her hands down further until she had his arms in her grasp again, and this time he was the right way round. Successfully pinning his arms behind his back she put him in such a position that he was looking upwards at the darkness of the cave roof. She silently thanked her Dad for teaching her the means to save his life, even if he had forbidden her to use such methods on any impressionable boys her age (as at the moment Caelan's head was currently resting on her chest)… well what her Dad didn't know wouldn't hurt him… also Caelan wasn't exactly her age either. At this she expected a perverted comment from him or even some chivalrous rubbish such as 'Leave me! Save yourself!' but there was nothing.

And so she began to swim, kicking her legs gently as if they weren't in a rush as swimming too fervently would only tire her out quicker and she needed to conserve that energy if they were to live. The water was soothing on her muscles, although after a while it would also serve to cramp them up, something Valkyrie refused to think about. For the first ten minutes the vampire struggled and hissed but he soon gave up when he realised she was helping him and remained silent, instead focussing on getting as much air into its lungs as possible. His wheezy breaths made her wince a little on the inside; he wasn't exactly her favourite person in the world, but he was a friend and it didn't do well to see him suffering. Of course a bit of her laughed on the inside, declaring how it served him right since he'd bitten her, but as they say 'An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.'

When wet Caelan's coat was as heavy as sin and pulled them down, and combined with his dead weight and Valkyrie's jeans made it a recipe for them to both drown. Grunting, "I should just leave you to drown…" she was surprised when he replied.

"You…" Wheeze, "Really should." His throat was sore and tight from his 'allergy' to saltwater and he was ready to hit something, but still he had just enough to play martyr. If he'd saw the look she made he would probably have kept silent from then onwards.

"You know what?" Cough! "Just for that I'm saving your life."

"Goodie." He replied as sarcastically as a drowning person could. "But… thank you."

"You're welcome watch-boy."

"Are you… going to… bring that… up often?"

Had he seen the grin that broke across her face he would have shuddered. "Yes."

"I should… not have… said anything." He managed between shaky gasps.

"And ruin all my fun? Never."

The ghostly image of the torch spiralling downwards somehow remained in her head, prompting her to ask, "You don't know of any lake monsters do you?" Expecting a 'No', when he claimed he did know of one she got a little worried… that is until he revealed that it was Nessie. "Ha ha. Very funny. You should be focussing on staying alive rather than stupid jokes."

"Couldn't… resist." He smiled weakly and pointlessly since she couldn't see him. "I think… I lost… my hat."

For nearly half an hour further Valkyrie swam aimlessly. She knew not where she was going or what she was going to, but she had a good feeling in the direction they were swimming. Caelan had taken the head torch and she the hand held. Looking back it was probably why she fell, she was trying to keep a hold of it and wedge herself between the walls simultaneously. He didn't have to worry about dropping it at all. And it was then when the wheezing from next to her stopped.

"Caelan?" She asked hesitantly, not wanting to accept the situation. "Don't you _dare_ tell me you've stopped breathing!" Perhaps if the situation were less dire she would have realised that if he had stopped breathing, which he indeed had, he wouldn't be able to tell her anything, let alone that he couldn't breathe. To her horror there was no response. "Caelan? Seriously, I swear if you've blacked out so help me I'll drop you right now!"

And then thankful that she'd been conserving her energy, furiously kicked her legs, deciding that if she went in one direction long enough she'd reach ground or at least a wall where she could then work her way along until she reached land… unless, of course, there was no shore…

"Caelan, if we're going to die here then we're going to die at the same time because otherwise I may be forced to eat you… would that be considered cannibalism?" To her horror she found herself rambling in panic. Was it normal to do this to casual friends? She hoped that she was human enough to get upset over anyone dying after she'd spend so much time trying to save them.

"Hey… I thought… that was… my job?" He croaked, not as passed out or dying as she'd thought he was.

"I thought you were unconscious!" She snapped and cuffed him around the head.

"I was…" His voice was getting weaker by the second and was so hoarse she could barely understand what he was saying. "This… air of… yours… sucks…" And then he went silent again.

"Idiot." She barked, furious at his apparent disregard for his own life. If being in love (as he called it) made you this dumb then she'd make certain to avoid it. "I won't forgive you if you die. Okay?"

"What'll… you do?"

"I'll spit on your grave every Sunday and carve smells under your name so it reads 'Caelan smells'."

"So… witty."

She chuckled at her appalling joke for a while before remembering the situation they were in and sobering up when all of a sudden a searing light shot out of what appeared to be Caelan's forehead. She would have thrown her forearm out in front of her eyes if it weren't for the fact that her arms were occupied with keeping Caelan afloat. Their eyes used to the darkness of the cave seemed to burn in agony until Valkyrie reached out and ripped it off his head.

"Now we can look for land." She declared as if to a child. "I'll need to let go of you though."

"What? I can't… swim! Don't… let go! Don't let… go!" He cried instantly.

"I need to!"

"But… I can't… swim!"

"All you do is swish your arms by your sides, okay? But don't let your face go into the water. Three, two, one!" And she let go of him. Sliding him gently to the side where he floated he at first panicked, reaching out his arms for her but too terrified to move any other part of his body. Valkyrie, an experienced swimmer, slid effortlessly into treading water unlike the vampire that was having trouble merely floating. "You're doing fine. Just hang on a second."

The torch's beam was, thankfully, still fairly strong. Although she couldn't see walls or land she did see a small glint of metal far in the distance. Confused she wiggled the torch from side to side to confirm its existence, and after a few seconds she concurred that there was definitely something there, although what it could be was up to debate. It would certainly be land, but since when was land shiny? But then again, as always, since when did vampires exist… she shrugged and slipped the torch onto her head. "Okay you big baby, calm down. I take it you're not going to hiss at me anymore?"

"Did I… hiss? How… embarrassing. I… apologise. And no… I won't."

"So I can move you in a more comfortable manner then. Good." She swam beneath him and hooked her arms beneath his armpits before dragging him once more, careful not to get any water on his face; it was the last thing he needed. Checking every so often that they were on the right course (much to Caelan's objection) it took another long period of swimming before they were close enough to see the actual island.

A while later Valkyrie had long since given up looking for the island and assumed they were on the right course due to Caelan's protest at being moved. She couldn't be bothered to check again. To be honest with herself, she'd nearly forgotten about land; her mind was swimming with different thoughts. Unfortunately it seemed part of her was determined to constantly think of lake monsters no matter how she tried to suppress it. Caelan, of course, found this quite amusing. Valkyrie Cain who had fought against monsters of all kinds and Gods of the old world was scared of a made up lake monster. Whenever he was conscious he made an effort of bringing it up. "Well," She explained, "It's easy for you to say. You've got me to protect you from the bulk of it when it attacks. Very un-gentlemanly."

To this he did not reply. Sometimes she wondered if he'd really passed out or if he was trying to weed out of replying. Deciding to have a quick break she stopped swimming and allowed the current to take her wherever it willed. There wasn't exactly much of one, but it was conveniently in the direction they were going.

A soft bump to the head was the first thing that alerted Valkyrie to land. Warm sand supported her tired limbs and cold, shivering muscles. As she had not fully realised the situation she was in, she was quite content to lie there and give her body a rest. It was only when it hit her that they _were_ on land and they _weren't_ dreaming that she rolled Caelan off and leapt up to inspect the area. It was a round island with a five-metre width composed of a soft, silky sand without any vegetation growing. In the centre of the island was a small silver locket with a pea-sized green gem in the centre surrounded by several smaller blue gems. It must have been this that gleamed when the torch passed over it… but why would there be a locket on some random island in the middle of an underground lake?

A chill spread down her spine as she turned to where Caelan was sat- no he was still face down in the sand! He had not moved at all and there was no sign of life coming from him. A closer look revealed him to have stopped breathing, and it was then when she began to panic. The torches cold glow showed his skin to be even whiter than before, and for someone as pale as him that was a definite achievement. His lips had a very slight blue tinge to them and when she tried to find a pulse there was none. She wasn't certain as to whether he'd had a pulse before hand but it was worth checking for. Why had it just started now? He'd seemed fine just a while ago.

"Caelan? This… this better not be a joke." She hissed before peeling back his sodden coat and jacket to press her ear against his chest. Still no heartbeat. "Okay then, I'm going to assume that you having no pulse is a bad thing… think think think! What do you do when someone's drowning?"

Images flashed into her head of TV shows where a character had almost drowned only to be miraculously revived by their glamorous love interest performing CPR on them. Part of her twitched at this. Sure, she'd do the heart compressions without a fuss, but was the mouth-to-mouth really necessary? It was like someone up there really didn't like her because, really, how often does one actually need to do CPR to someone? And he didn't _actually_ need to breathe so…

Not wanting to even think about that she tried remembering something different. The only other thing she could remember was when her Dad told her that it was best to call an ambulance before attempting any medical assistance yourself, and then you could try CPR if they'd been drowning. Well, fat load of good that would do! Valkyrie seriously doubted that the ambulance service could make it into the cave after them unless they could teleport. She'd have to grit her teeth and bear it; there was little point in doing CPR if parts were missing due to the practitioner's squeamish side. Besides, it wasn't like she had to give mouth-to-mouth to Tesseract or anything; there were worse faces to give it to.

"Okay then, Caelan. Don't take this the wrong way." She straightened her arms out, clasped fingers together and began to push down on his chest. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen!"

Tilting his head back and opening his mouth she pressed her mouth against his and exhaled, forcing his lungs to rise. The only thing she really noticed was how cold he was. Was he always that cold? Past experience told her no. Once it was over she realised it wasn't as scary as she'd thought… as long as she didn't think too hard… and so the cycle began again: fifteen chest compressions and then the so-called 'kiss of life'. But what she wanted to know was why he had suddenly gotten so much worse just then. She had heard of people who had slightly delayed allergic reactions but it was fairly rare.

After what must have been the tenth time she'd completed the CRP cycle there was still no result from him. Not even a flutter of the eyelids. Practically snarling she said, "_Why isn't this working_?" All of the times they'd done this on television a miraculous revival occurred where they'd suddenly sit up and ask 'Was someone kissing me?' But this was not happening now… why not? Did CPR not work on vampires or something? It certainly seemed so. And finally after the fifteenth time she lost her temper. Giving a last violent chest compression she stalked to the end of the island in a rage.

'_Why isn't he alive stupid vampire_?' She asked herself, her chest feeling the same pain as when he was drowning. What even was that stupid feeling? She eventually worked out that she was upset over watching her friend dying without anything she could do to change it. But if it were said that she cried, whoever said it was wrong. This was Valkyrie Cain, and no matter what she did not cry. She didn't cry either of the times when she was bitten by a vampire or when Tanith was turned into a remnant, so why should she now?

For a while she watched the water coming in. Soft little ripples rather than waves worked their way up the beach the best they could to reach her feet. She wouldn't have been able to see them if it weren't for the torch, and really she should have switched it off, but the comfort light gave her was too great for that. Besides, they were most likely stuck down there and her partner was dead. What was the point of saving the batteries? The water calmed her and helped her face his dead body. All of the things she'd seen and heard about death seemed to not apply here; he didn't look asleep at all, he looked dishevelled and half-drowned.

Her body and mine were tired and called out constantly for her to sleep, but this she did not listen to until she'd completed her final task. This was rolling him onto his side and rearranging his arms and legs into the recovery position just in case of a miraculous recovery while she was asleep. Then she slid his eyes shut and finally he looked asleep, albeit a little molested as his pale chest was visible from where she'd tried to find a heartbeat. His hair was ruffled and stuck out at improbable angles from his head in a style not entirely different to Fletchers due to the way it had dried. It certainly looked different to the usual slicked back look it had that made him look like a Victorian gentleman… but… it looked wrong on him somehow.

The call of sleep found its way into Valkyrie's mind once more, and this time she answered it. She lay down in the sand next to him and slid her eyes shut finally allowing herself to sleep…

* * *

><p>In her dream she found herself in an endless white expanse of space. There was no floor, no walls or ceilings. In fact, she had no way of knowing if she was even the right way up. A sudden voice behind her startled her, making her jump a little.<p>

"I was worried you wouldn't come." A female voice said in a strong confident tone that was at right angles to what she said. "But everyone succumbs to sleep here eventually."

Valkyrie turned slowly and saw who was behind her. It was indeed a woman. She had dark skin and eyes with long curled hair and a hat pinned to the side of her head with feathers cascading off the side of it. Her dress was corseted and made of canvas, reminiscent of the explorers of the Victorian era. There was a slight glint to her eyes as she looked at Valkyrie.

"You're rather young are you not?"

"What?" The necromancer was confused. Why should her dream, which was essentially her own mind, be telling her she was young?

"Let me repeat myself, I said: You're-"

"Yes I know _what_ you said. I meant why are you asking?"

"Ah." The lady began. "The majority of people that come here tend to be older and you're not. What are you, fourteen?"

"I'll have you know I'm almost seventeen!"

"I'm over one hundred, girl, therefore you are young. Now then, let us begin."

"Begin what?"

"Good lord, girl, are you always like this?" The woman cried. Valkyrie had to bite her tongue to prevent herself saying 'yes'. "So, I once asked people why they required my remnant device, but they would all say 'to remove a remnant' so I'm not bothering to anymore. So, I do believe we haven't introduced ourselves yet!"

The woman then gave Valkyrie an expectant look until she said, "Uh… I'm Valkyrie Cain?"

"Excellent! I'm Dayo Nerezza, and to be honest I'm not pleased to meet you at all. Now then, let us start. You're after my remnant device and I'm a little impressed you made it this far so I'll give you the short version. You complete the seven trials I set you and you get to keep it until you're done with it. Okay?"

"I'm confused."

"Think of me as an echo-stone if you will. The original Dayo, as I'm sure you know, split the device into four pieces to hide it as… well it's not relevant. This is the location of one of those pieces. Now then, before we begin the tasks I'll give you an example run."

"Okay…"

"All the dead souls of the previous challengers remain here as well as many others I just made up. It is your task to find your companion from amongst them. But that alone would be too easy, therefore I am going to change something about him… ah, what's this? Your partner… he's a vampire is he not?"

"Yes. Well… was…"

Not noticing what Valkyrie had said Dayo carried on merrily, "This is interesting. How about this? I'll return him to how he was before his century of sickness. Now then, the rules. Ah… how to put this without sounding stupid?" Eventually she sighed and carried on. "Have you ever watched Inception?"

"What?"

"Inception. It's a movie about dreams. The point man's hair is the same as on your vampires."

"I know what it is. I meant how on earth have you seen it? You're… well… like that!"

"It gets boring down here okay? So, as I was saying. Basically if you survive the tasks then you wake up and I tell you where the first fragment is, everything is happy and rainbows. But if you die in the dream you wake but you're brain dead. A vegetable. Understand?" Dayo explained. Valkyrie nodded a little hesitantly. "Good. So, as with lucid dreaming you are able to control this dream to an extent, but as it's not your dream you can't do much."

"Whose dream is it then?"

"That would be telling. So, you have one hour to find him starting from now!" And with that the strange woman disappeared only to be replaced with what must have been thousands of people dressed in the same white top and trousers. None faced her as if to make the task harder for her, so trying the obvious she screamed at the top of her voice, "CAELAN!"

As expected no one so much as turned around to see who was making all the noise so she decided upon a more obvious method. Jogging up to someone who had a similar build and hair from behind she tapped them on the shoulder only to visibly flinch backwards when they turned. Mouths, you would think are a fairly universal asset for human beings, but it seemed this person didn't have one. All the rest of their face was as a normal person's with slightly watery blue eyes, an upturned nose and smooth skin, but no mouth. She got the attention of another, but they too lacked a mouth, and so did the other and the other. The whites of Valkyrie' eyes flashed a lot more than usual as she rushed about trying to find someone with a mouth, but it seemed there were none. All of the mouth-less humans merely watched, apathy in their every action and expression.

"Ah yes, I probably should have mentioned." Dayo chuckled. "I've removed his ability to speak. But don't worry! If you find him it'll probably be returned."

On every part of the sky (well the area above her) four vivid, red digits blared. 54:39. Over five minutes had already passed since the task had begun and she hadn't made any headway! Deciding to try a different way, she composed herself and asked a nearby person if they'd seen Caelan, describing his attributes as best she could, but as she'd thought they merely looked at her without any signs of knowing she'd spoken. Valkyrie almost screamed in frustration but decided that may well be what Dayo wanted, and she'd be damned if she gave up so easily.

Another ten minutes passed of merely searching for him amongst the apathetic faces without results. Dayo had said that he'd look how he had before he became a vampire, but surely that couldn't be much different to how he was now? Caelan was an Irish name, she was certain of it. But she'd never thought to ask whether it was his given or taken name. His facial features were that of a European, although those very dark eyes could hint at Southern European or Middle Eastern decent. Thinking about it she remembered seeing a Spanish actor that looked almost exactly like Caelan, but… you know… not pale.

It was getting ridiculous now. She had been searching for almost half an hour now, searching the faces of every male despite size or appearance just in case (she assumed he wasn't a female before becoming a vampire). Still no results! In the distance she could just about make out a hill with a tall white tree. Well… it was a practice run so she supposed there had to be something there to help her. Within minutes she was there after some intense running that involved shoving people to the side and occasionally over. To her confusion someone was already there. Ordinarily she wouldn't have found this odd, but it seemed all the other people were giving staying clear of it… a quick look revealed them to be male and of similar body shape to Caelan but not enough to have a second look. Her mind was too preoccupied with getting to the top of the tree to really care.

What a view! You couldn't say it was beautiful, but it was certainly something. The endless white expanse was just that. Endless. She couldn't see any end to it in any direction. And the people! There were so many, they almost went on as far as the white. It was odd; their clothes, the exact same colour as the floor made it appear as if they were all floating heads. But there were so many of them. How on earth was Valkyrie supposed to find one Caelan in thousands of not-Caelans? It was impossible! And this was only the practice run. If she failed this she'd die. After all, going brain dead on a random island in the middle of nowhere isn't the best place to do it really, and she only had fifteen minutes until the deadline.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the base of the tree. Looking down she was more than a little surprised to find that not only was it one of the apathetic people that had done it, but this person had a slightly urgent expression on his face. It was the same person who'd been sat under the tree! Scaling down it as fast as humanely possible, she grabbed the sides of his face and stared. The apathetic expression soon returned as if he hadn't done anything.

At a second look perhaps-Caelan's body shape and hair was the same. He had the same narrow cheekbones and straight nose but had a deep, even tan with a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his nose and outwards across his cheekbones. Dark eyes looked back casually, not even caring what she was doing. It was difficult to tell if it was him or not without a mouth so instead she tried to picture his thin mouth on the tanned man. As if some celestial power had heard her a mouth instantly popped up on his face much to both of their confusion.

It was Caelan. The mouth confirmed it, and never before had she been so happy to see him. Grabbing his sides she hugged him tightly because after all, it was only a dream. Probably-Caelan opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. She could see his lips and tongue moving but it didn't seem to work. Knowing full well that Dayo would hear she said, "I think I've found him."

"Are you sure?" She asked, popping up suddenly.

"Yes."

"And you are indeed correct." Dayo snapped her fingers and the scene fizzed away until they returned to the white space with neither mouth-less people nor hills. The glint in her eye grew until it resembled more of a certain anticipation for something. "So, for the first task we were going to remain in the dream world, but I've found something else which is far more appropriate. This time if you die you just die. Ta ta!"

* * *

><p>Valkyrie's eyes snapped open, the sleep vanishing almost instantly from the induced dream. Her fingers reached for the torch on her head and switched it on. Caelan was still dead in front of her… but wait. The blue from his lips had gone and his skin had somewhat more life to it. An eyelid twitched soon followed by his mouth and arms and then suddenly he curled in on himself, his arms curling around his belly as if he were in pain. And he hissed, "Get in the fucking water."<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Caelan, honestly! Wash your mouth out! If anyone recognises the last few sentences… well I'm not going to say much but shit's about to go down.<strong>

**So, sorry for the delay! I had more problems with this. I'd finished the chapter at 5000 words when my memory stick thought it would be cool to delete it! So I had to rewrite it all out, fun! But how it's 7000 words (new longest chapter!), which is better I suppose. But I have a new computer now so hopefully updates should be normal now as well as better; when I write on my I-pod the writing quality is rubbish!**

**Also this so wasn't as trippy as promised. I apologise… So, i recently reread mortal coil, and it seems Valkyrie's a lot more shy around Caelan than i make her... hmmm... I'd hate for this to be all OOC, but I'd rather write them like this than how they are there. But if it's bothering anyone particularly I can change it for the later chapters. ^^**

**And this is dedicated to all those who like seeing Caelan suffer ;)**

**The closest I've come to drowning (which won't count) is when I capsize in my canoe without realising. I'm fine when practicing but when I'm actually under I lose myself and totally panic without thinking. I hope I managed to reflect that here.**

**Thank you to you awesome people who review! You make my day! And a special thanks to those who I can't reply to as they don't have accounts (I think that's why I can't reply?) thanks for taking the time to review despite not having one!**

**And on that note please please review! Your support keeps me going when my computer breaks and deletes all my work!**

**Thank you for reading! ^^**


	8. The Host

Creaking filled the ancient rooms with a sound as solid as smoke. Papers stirred and dust soared in the currents let in by the opening door and swirled across the room like magic carpets, heading for destinations unknown. Sunlight raced in like an overly eager dog and streamed warmth and light into the empty space, revealing that none had been in that day. A heavy oak door was the creator of this, pushed open by a man with waxy skin and a thick head of curly brown hair.

"Valkyrie?"

The face smiled widely at this, as if pleased at the lack of whomever they were calling, however their voice said otherwise. It was as if this strange man knew not how to control his facial muscles properly. After the door swung back shut behind him his long bony fingers felt for a mark on his neck and as if by magic (which it most certainly was) his face melted away leaving behind only a skull with empty, cold sockets for eyes and a permanent skeletal grin.

This odd creature was none other than Skulduggery Pleasant the infamous skeleton detective, and the house Gordon Edgley's, a slightly eccentric writer of horror fiction. Although you wouldn't know it by looking at him, the magician was worried. His accomplice of sorts, Valkyrie Cain, had been missing for the past few days without any record of what had happened. Of course he didn't check up on the girl every day, nor did he expect for her to always be willing to be off crime fighting, but the fact was she _was_ very willing. No one had seen hair nor hide of her in quite a while and upon checking her house he found only her reflection parading around as her. In fact it wasn't just the Skeleton detective who'd noticed the lack of Valkyrie. Fletcher had cornered him several times asking if he knew where she was. He'd apparently booked her a surprise meal at one of the posh restaurants in Paris only to find her gone.

However this wasn't what concerned him most. Skulduggery often saw the strange, friendless vampire around. He hadn't liked him the first time he'd met him, and although part of him grudgingly accepted that he had assisted in his rescue, his opinion of him hadn't changed in the slightest. Skulduggery was well aware that the vampire had been following his surrogate daughter around and he didn't like it. In fact, he didn't like vampires in general and Caelan was a vampire. The maths was not hard. But he hadn't seen him around in a while, and although it was a tenuous assumption to make he suspected something could be going on between the two of them. Needless to say he did _not_ approve.

On the desk in the centre of the room a flicker of movement caught his eye… well… eye socket. Trapped beneath a lamp in the shape of a hula lamp (which he didn't approve of either) was a piece of paper. It flickered and flared about desperately, trying to join the other sheets caught in the breeze. Had he still a pair of eyes they would have narrowed. It seemed to be a… note? The handwriting seemed to be Valkyrie's.

Soft footsteps somehow seemed to echo as he approached the note. What would it say? He doubted it would be a suicide note; he could imagine quite clearly the look of scorn she'd have if he told her that theory. '_I may be a necromancer but I'd much prefer to be alive thank you very much._' she'd say then give him a rare and slightly cynical smile in the way only she could. The note was now in his hands. His eyeless sockets travelled down the barely legible scrawl right until the last word when he exclaimed, "This is a recipe for tomato pasta sauce!"

Sliding the recipe back under the hideous lamp he turned to look around some more when another piece of paper with her terrible scrawl came into view. A quick scan revealed to him that she'd written Skulduggery on it. Any other time he would have respected her privacy, but she'd been gone for a while and wanted to know where she was, therefore it was in her best interests to check. And this time it was relevant.

'_Dear everyone_,' It began, '_I'm off to look for an anti-remnant device. I knew you'd try and stop me, so I'm not telling you. Besides, it's not like you told me when you went off in a sulk for ages Skulduggery. I'll be gone for about a month or so, and when I return I'll have it. Kick some butt for me. Valkyrie.'_

The red Citroën DS sat on the curb, patiently awaiting the return of its owner who was presently sprinting towards the car. Throwing himself into the chairs embrace he barely had enough time to pull his seatbelt on before his foot hit the pedals and he was off. The gear stick cluttered noisily as he weaved it through its settings in such a way that would a driving instructor weep from awe. In a sense, Skulduggery, like Valkyrie, did not like travelling in this car. Something about it seemed wrong… like he was betraying the Bentley. But he'd been moping enough about the loss of his car and now had more important things to worry about.

First stop: Ghastly.

* * *

><p>A sickening series of clicks and pops rang around the vast space as the vampire suddenly straightened up and arched his spine in an unnatural fashion. He bellowed a cry of pain that could just about be interpreted as 'MOVE!' before it was silent once more. The scene was suddenly all too familiar to the young necromancer and thus she did exactly as he said and backed away rapidly, never once taking her eyes of the vampire. Once more, his eyes met hers before he could no longer restrain himself and he reached up, fingers grabbing and tangling into his hair and pulled down.<p>

Although ridiculously inappropriate for the situation they were in, the metaphor that came to her mind was 'like peeling a banana'. Caelan's skin came off easily and in one smooth arc his discarded human form lay in a pile around his feet. Resisting the urge to be sick at the horrifying scene that had just played before her eyes, Valkyrie tried to breathe as silently as possible; one shaky breath could attract its attention.

Somehow not realising the human's presence the vampire bent down and began to pick out the human skin, putting it in its mouth and chewing it in quick bursts. The inner side of his skin seemed to have a layer of slime on that made it all the much easier for the vampire to swallow.

With the vampire distracted Valkyrie crouched further into the water. Her almost dry body was now fully enveloped in the salty water save for her head and _damn_ was it cold! Shivering began to work its way upwards from her toes to her teeth. If it were not for the fact that almost all her energy had deserted her she may have attempted to knock it out, but this was not an option with the state of her energy levels. The best she could do was to wait it out… but she was already freezing and the torch on her head wasn't getting any brighter…

The vampire seemed a little smaller than most of the others she'd seen but by no means did this make it cuter or less threatening. Like the others it had huge, jagged teeth that it used to rip Caelan's previous skin into bite-sized chunks and bulbous black eyes that could probably see just fine with in the darkness of the cave, torch or no torch. Like a newborn babe it was completely devoid of hair and covered in a slightly slimy substance that stuck together and formed long tendrils between its arms and sides when moved apart. Its movements mirrored a cat in a sense as it crouched low on its haunches to eat the skin. Long dexterous fingers picked at the yummiest looking skin, avoiding the overly hairy parts and the nose. After eating its fill a long pale pink tongue wove out between it's hideous teeth and it began to lick itself free of the slime coating in a quick efficient manner no more endearing than a fly grooming its legs.

It was after this and only after this that it turned its vast eyes in her direction. The mouth seemed to grow wider as it revealed to her its teeth akin to a viperfish. No words came out other than a dull hiss but the meaning was still clear: _'If I could reach you you'd be a pile of bloodless flesh on the floor_.'

There was something almost mesmerising about the monsters gaze, which probably had something to do with how one couldn't be sure where it was looking. Its entire eye was black: whites, iris, pupil. It could equally be looking at her or the blackness behind her. Although to be honest with herself she knew there was a pretty high chance it was looking at her. A hungry vampire, a juicy human, it wasn't hard to work out. What she was counting on was it's sudden loss of appetite due to its meal being particularly tricky to get to; vampires were fairly lazy as species (sub-species?) went.

Huge eyes fixed themselves on her equally dark irises; it was almost like a sort of supernatural staring contest the way both parties refused to look away. Either one of them backing down could be seen as a show of weakness and for the person in danger of being eaten Valkyrie certainly didn't want this. If she managed to fool it into thinking she was feeling braver, stronger than she actually felt would it give up? In the documentaries she'd seen this was often the case. For example with the frilled lizard: it would raise a broad membrane of skin to surround its head, making it appear larger and the predator would decide it was too much work and give up. Or with a type of owl (which she couldn't remember the name of) where it would use a similar trick of puffing out its feathers and spreading its wings out around it. How would she achieve such a thing? Magic would probably be a good place to start.

Warmth radiated into her system as she created a ball of fire in her palm. The flames flickered softly, looking less threatening and more comforting by the second due to her tired and scared state of mind. It was better than her old toy penguin at that second; the fire, so human that it had wove its way into everyday life, reminded her of the warmth of the surface, of other people and of life and thus it brought her strength. A toothy grin spread its way across the vampires face as if mocking her poor display of magic before being replaced with anger as the fireball hit it square in the face. An indignant howl left its lips as it paced furiously at the waters edge, occasionally dipping a finger in only to snarl in disgust when its throat would tighten up and it'd be forced to sit out for a while. Valkyrie wasn't a religious person by any means, but at the sight of the vampire being unable to enter the water she muttered a 'thank-you' under her breath.

And then, with only a dull splutter as warning the torch strapped to her head suddenly blinked off and she found herself returning the 'thanks'. The only thing preventing her from spouting all manner of colourful curses was the monster in front of her and the fear it installed deep into her bones. The darkness then settled down heavily onto her shoulders and her heartbeat picked up so rapidly and loud that it was almost without a doubt that Caelan's vampire form could hear it.

Would it be rushing forwards? Could it be mere centimetres away? They were both perfectly reasonable ideas given how quietly he could move even when confined to human shape. How slow and clumsy she must seem to him! Not only to his human form, but also to the vampire half as well. The noise she made must have been deafening to it as it was certainly loud to her ears. As humans went she was at the more graceful end of the spectrum. Sure she wasn't exactly gymnast material, but there was no way you'd find her conveniently tripping on a flat surface into the male leads arms in a clumsy, vulnerable and apparently adorable manner (except, of course, when forced into heels).

A dull splash sounded in front of her coupled by near silent wheezing. Where was she supposed to look; the blasted thing could be anywhere! Valkyrie's hearing was by no means as good as the vampires. In fact, it wasn't even anywhere close to the accuracy it had so she had to go by the occasional sloshes of water and its faint, rasping breaths. Another noise, in front and slightly to the left. Had they not been bound to her head by skin her ears would have twitched like a vixens. At this her instincts took control of her body and moved her further down into the lake; at the time the water was safer than land so that's where she would be. Curtains of hair occasionally fell down in front of her face known only to her due to the tickling sensation it created. Had there been anything to be obscured by it she would have shifted the hair, but there was little point in the darkness… also it kept her face warm.

Brains then kicked in as she summoned a neat little ball of fire to sit in her palm, and the results were fairly drastic. Little more than a metre in front of her was the vampire, stood in such a way to keep most of its body out of the water. Vast eyes fixed on her form as it realised the time for creeping forwards were temporarily postponed. But no worry, it decided, she'd soon tire out and then! Then it would feast!

Its host was a tiresome being that refused to embrace his curse each night he would suffocate his virus with a strange concoction that would leave it too tired to take over and it would instead pace around the hosts mind, confused at its sudden prison. Who was this odd, pale girl its host thought of so much? The vampire knew her smell off by heart from the exposure his host had had to her and now here she was crouched down right in front of it. Well… who was to deny a hungry vampire its meal? It would serve his host right, suffocating it every night, and then the years, decades before when it would be released onto to find itself locked up, refused access to the world of warm, sloshy humans. The vampire was going to kill and eat the girl. It was decided. Maybe not that night and maybe not the next. It wasn't stupid, it knew there was little chance of getting her in such a vast salty lake, but one day she would die by its hands. Or better yet get its host to kill her; it would destroy him and the vampire would finally be released. It had tasted her blood before via his host, but only a few measly litres. Next time it would finish her.

And it was from this that Valkyrie suddenly realised there was intelligence behind those huge eyes. It had always been said that carnivores had larger brains due to the large amounts of protein they got that could go towards brain development. The creature stood in front was without doubt a carnivore and had been so for about a century. Plans, schemes were created as soon as destroyed behind its vast, dark gaze as it stared, wondered and all but slobbered at her. How long had it actually been since Caelan had had a proper 'meal'? The best she'd seen were his occasional swigs from the dark water bottle that probably contained blood. Would that be enough to sustain him? Forget the vampire form for a moment; even his human form felt hunger so she'd be praying to her lucky stars that she wouldn't cut herself anytime soon.

So they sat there, predator and prey, staring and staring. One waiting for the sun to rise somewhere far above and the other for its body to suddenly forget that its allergy to salt water. The flaming orb of magic hung in the air between them, a warning to the vampire: if it got too close it would get another burn to join the one on its right cheek, and it worked. Her body was getting increasingly tired by the second; magic was hard to keep up for sustained periods as she'd found out earlier. While her stamina was telling her desperately to stop and conserve her energy a more primal part of her refused this, terrified of losing the comfort of light when stuck in such a place with a vampire. As long as she could see it she would be okay, it would know it wouldn't be able to get to her without a lovely burn. But when her energy gave out…

The vampire shuddered. Something was wrong.

Its body shook and spasmed as its eyes rolled back into its head. Was… was that eyebrows growing back? It suddenly all made sense to her as she realised the vampire was slowly but surely turning back into Caelan. It took her all she had to not grin; she was almost safe! Well, _safer_ anyway.

But the danger was by no means over yet. As if the vampire knew what she was just thinking it grabbed her and hoisted her out of the water onto land, its long claws gouging into her flesh in several places making her punch it. It staggered back slightly, whether this was due to the punch or all its teeth suddenly shrinking in size she wasn't sure, but it was certainly welcome as she dashed back into the water, the ball of flame following her. And as it did hours ago the vampire suddenly straightened up and arched its spine in pain before collapsing to the ground and curling into a foetal position with its back to her.

The head, which was previously the palest tone skin could be, slowly darkened as hair grew back. Its body grew a fraction more tanned until it was just crazy pale as opposed to a near luminous white. Another minute passed before the vampire's body stopped twitching and then for a few seconds he was completely still and silence filled the vast space in a rather unsettling way. This silence was then broken by someone's stomach rumbling loudly. A voice called hesitantly, "Val… Valkyrie?"

Not sure on exactly what to say she replied, "Yes?" After all, what is one to say after seeing someone morph into a monster, have said monster try to eat you (he really must learn to curb his hunger for her) and then see him change back.

"Could you… ah… pass me my clothes?"

Once he was decent Valkyrie turned back around to face Caelan. His skin glowed in the fires flickering light and his hair looked soft and just washed, yet there were shadows under his eyes and a large, angry looking burn on the right hand side of his face that had scorched off half his eyebrow and most of his eyelashes by the looks of it.

With a slightly sheepish look she muttered, "Sorry about that, but you were gonna… you know… _eat_ _me_."

"Don't worry about it." He dismissed. "I'd rather have a burn but you safe than no burn and you dead. Besides, this'll heal in a few days."

"Okay then…" She realised she'd run out of things to say.

"You are okay aren't you? You look fine… well, wet and a little traumatised but other than that-"

"I'm _fine_, Caelan. Stop worrying. So, where's this challenge Dayo was going to set us?"

"I think that may have been it. Most people don't come out of such an encounter with a vampire alive…" And as if realising what he'd just said hugged her tightly.

She didn't realise how long she'd let herself be held until a voice laughed from a little way behind her, "Should I come back another time?" And they broke apart instantly to face the ghost like form of Dayo Nerezza. "Ah, excellent. I have your attentions. So, it seemed you passed as you're both alive… although that's a vicious looking burn you've got there. Now then, as promised I'll take you to the first fragment."

Dayo smiled enchantingly before travelling to the centre of the island and sinking down out of sight. At this the young necromancer and vampire cried out in annoyance, trying to figure out what on earth the woman was doing. Was there a cave below the island with it in? At the moment their best option would be to dig, and so they did just that. After a minute or so of digging through the soft sand Valkyrie's dry fingers scraped against rough wood, causing the skin to crack open and bleed. She instantly leapt out of the hole they'd been digging and plunged them into the salt water to mask its scent; the last thing she needed was another hungry Caelan on her hands.

"Are you okay?" He asked, understandably a little confused.

"I'm fine. I found some wood buried under there, could you continue digging?"

"Okay…"

A faint stinging sensation was felt at the edges of the wounds from the salt, but in all honesty she'd experienced so much pain in the relatively short amount of time that she knew Skulduggery Pleasant that such a small amount barely registered with her. They soon stopped bleeding but not wanting to take the chance of them reopening she sat at the edge of the pit and watched Caelan unearth what seemed to be several planks of wood nailed together.

"Hey… is that a… trapdoor?"

It lifted easily and they soon found themselves travelling down another narrow passageway lit only by the ball of fire on Valkyrie's palm and even that was only the size of a ten pence coin by now. Dayo's ghostly form could be seen a few metres ahead and although she was exuding an inner glow none of that light reflected onto the surrounding walls… it seemed the physics of magic was getting odder and odder the more she thought about it.

The woman stopped in front of a vast cavern and clapped her hands once. At once it lit up with hundreds of flaming orbs similar to the one Valkyrie had in her hand, and at the sight of the contents the magic in her hand went out as the young necromancer and the vampires mouths hung open in awe. Inside were hundreds and hundreds of rock fragments scattered across the floor joined by huge stalagmites and stalactites hanging from the ceiling several millennia old. Strange formations that looked like stacks of dishes were built up, ranging in size from barely a foot tall to some over fifteen metres high. To add to these strange structures were folded sheets of rock hanging from the roof like cloth. Several large pools of perfectly still water sat in the room. Although she wouldn't admit to it later, Valkyrie found herself rushing to the pools to see if there was life: little fish or shrimp.

"You have one hour before the magic runs out. If you find the correct fragment it'll teleport the two of you to a passage near the surface. From there it's a ten-minute walk out." Dayo gave them one more smile (was there a trace of sadness there?) before disappearing.

Valkyrie was not worried, of course not! She was merely extremely worried… This led her to check, "Caelan, please tell me you can smell the magic."

"Of course."

"Good, because searching this cavern for every piece of rock would easily take years." She pushed the hair back from her face with near clenched fists before calming down. "So, have you got a trail?"

"I think so."

Claiming that having his eyes open ruined his senses he was essentially blind to everything but the faint scent of magic almost overpowered by the other strong currents of magic. And so they walked arm in arm, Valkyrie being Caelan's only means of not walking into a large stalagmite or tripping and landing face first into a boulder. Curious as to what magic 'smelt' like, she asked. The best answer she got was that it was similar to the feeling of an electric heater on your face; you could tell when it was closer or further away, only for him the 'scent' of magic was more accurate. All the other answers he gave were 'it's a vampire thing' and 'you wouldn't understand it'. It was only after a lot of 'try me' and 'are you saying I'm stupid?' that he gave in and gave her the answer he did.

Suddenly he jerked to the left and marched towards a small pile of rocks before bending down and reaching out towards them, his fingers twitching in an aimless sense in front of them. They got closer to one rock in particular and was about to touch it when his eyes snapped open and he nodded at her. "That's the one. I'm certain of it."

The rock in question was about the size and shape of a DS games console and made of a smooth, pale limestone. They glanced quickly at each other, trying to work out how accurately the magic would work. If one touched the rock a millisecond after the other would it go without them? They both hoped not. Just in case, they linked arms once more.

"Okay, if this isn't it we'll have to try again, but I'm fairly certain this is it." Caelan said, his voice giving away how nervous he felt. His voice was still sore from all the salt water and sounded gravely and painful, which he swore would go away once he'd had something to drink. And by something he meant blood of course.

"I trust you. So, in three, two, one, go!" They both reached out for the rocks smooth surface, grasping the sides securely and closed their eyes. When they opened them again they found themselves surrounded by darkness for what must have been the tenth time that day. "I swear I'll never complain about it being too bright ever again once we reach the surface."

Summoning another small orb of fire Valkyrie lit the room and they were pleased to find themselves in another passageway. Behind them was a wall of rock, so the only way was forwards, however they first decided to rest. The large rock in their hands had disappeared and instead Caelan found a small gemstone nestled into his clenched palm. It was the size of a pea and perfectly round with the exception of a small scratch.

"Well. That's one down, two to go." A triumphant grin burst across her face as she resisted the urge to punch the air. '_Ha! Take that everyone! The skeleton detective's sidekick just did something by herself and did it well_.'

As expected the path back to the surface took a quite a bit of hiking at near 30 ° angles, which was definitely a strain on their tired and hungry bodies. However on the plus side the strange illness that had been making her sick had disappeared completely as if it were never there. Upon a quizzing from her uncle later on about the sickness he would ask her how close she was exactly to the vampire. Seeing exactly where the conversation was going she explained as calmly as possible that no, she was not pregnant, that she hadn't slept with Caelan and was a virgin. She then went on to say that if she did find herself pregnant she would get an abortion faster than Gordon could yell 'Valkyrie Cain!' until she was at least thirty as, really, could you imagine Valkyrie sporting a fireball on one hand and a screaming baby on the other?

Right near the end of the tunnel sat a large dip in the path filled with richly salty water. Even several metres away Caelan could feel his chest tighten; this water was pure seawater, and therefore much saltier than the water in the underground lake. Valkyrie was still a little damp so had no precautions about wading through the water to get to the entrance. Caelan on the other hand was more than a little wary. The water so far was up to Valkyrie's chest and she'd long since begun to swim, so the only way he knew how high it went was due to her turning to look at him and treading water.

"Come on. We're almost there- oh. The water." She cast a disappointed look, although whether it was at him or the water he wasn't sure. "Hang on, I've got a plan. When I say 'go' you run. Okay?"

"Okay…"

Her figure gradually retreated until she was out of sight. A dull splash could just about be heard as she left the water and sat down. And then like a story he'd once heard the water in the cave began to slide up the walls and behind him, forming a relatively dry path for him to run along.

"What are you waiting for?" He heard her yell. "I said go!"

And so he sprinted along the thin, water free path noticing how it filled in just behind him. When he reached Valkyrie back on dry land he was doing his pointless wheezing again, making her cast him an expectant look.

"What?"

"A thanks would be nice." A small smile crossed his face when he realised she was pestering him about the exact same thing she'd forgotten to do. He bowed deeply and kissed her on the hand.

"My apologies ma'am, and thank you for clearing the tunnel of water for me."

"No problem."

The warmth of the sunlight on their faces felt like heaven… until Caelan's skin began to burn again and he was forced to cover up. And despite her promise the first thing Valkyrie said upon getting outside was, "It's too bright."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 AND over 40,000 words now, yay! Sorry this one isn't too long, this chapter and the one before were going to be one which would have been too long so i split them. The scary part is that the story as a whole is only around a fifth done… wow, this is going to be long… provided I don't give up half way through… and I'm not planning to do that anytime soon.<strong>

**Also the title isn't a reference to Stephanie Meyer's novel...**

**Sorry this is late! I checked it over on Friday and suddenly realised that I'd only done one and a half pages of work so over the past four days I've been ferreting away and here it is! I had a lot of commissioned work to do which of course comes as a priority and I've still got a bit more to do so I'm afraid the next might be late as well…**

**I had some stuff I was going to put here but I forgot what it was… anyway, hopefully no one was too OOC here. I'm hoping you enjoyed the released vampire bit? I know it didn't eat her or anything which would be more exciting, but getting bitten twice in three chapters would be a bit much! But be warned, in the next chapter we will find out that Valkyrie and Caelan's little expedition is not the only thing going on in this story.**

**So, as always thank you very much to reviewers! You really make my day ^^**

**Anyway, as I haven't written this once so far on this, do you think I need to put a disclaimer on each chapter?**

**And thank you very much for reading! ^^**


	9. Not Tanith

It was insanely warm, something that could be linked to the fact that Tanith was currently travelling through the depths of Texas in an open roofed convertible. The remnant infused woman pushed her 'boyfriend's' sunglasses higher up her face and sighed deeply; she really should have brought sun cream with her, as how was she going to get a tan now? Billy Ray Sanguine (bless him) had no clue of her true intentions with this trip. Whereas he was convinced their only reason for the holiday was for Tanith to meet his family, her reasons couldn't have been more different. Something was happening and although even she couldn't tell you exactly what it was, one thing she did know was that it was bad, and so she was gathering other remnant bound humans.

"How long until we reach Boston, sweetie?" Not-Tanith asked, the endearment slipping off her tongue easily. Thankfully it didn't take much to convince the hit-man of your 'love' for him, she didn't know what she'd do if he wanted much more than 'honey-pie's and the occasional kiss. She was a remnant for Christ's sake, not some blushing schoolgirl!

"Not too much longer, honey-bun." Sanguine replied, and as if she were pleased with his answer she leant her head on his shoulder, holding back a snort at how his heartbeat went up. Humans!

One thing she was not looking forwards to was holding in the rather obvious characteristics that identified her as a remnant as she made small talk with his family. But that would be over before she knew it and she could get to work. Due to Sanguine's displeasure at the fact that she was a remnant (but not at how she was suddenly interested in him) she kept her human guise up for increasingly long periods of time. Stopping only when he was asleep as he was a good piece to have on ones side. Boston was just about visible in the distance now. A faint haze. Once there she would compose a siren call of sorts, something that all other permanent remnants could not resist. Her research showed there were about thirty in Boston, collected in from all around the States for a kind of remnant convention.

"Perfect." She smiled.

When they arrived at the Sanguine residence Tanith was surprised to find that not only was the household made up mainly of women but also that none of the men (other than Billy-Ray and his father) could use magic. Sat in their living room were his mother, three sisters, their husbands and their children that all beamed up at her when she entered the room. It was such a warm and friendly welcome for a remnant to receive that her human guise almost slipped from shock.

"Hey, you must be Tanith, we've all heard so much about you!" His mother got up from the sofa to shake her hand.

"Um… hi." Tanith stammered, not able to get over how nice they were. _'Although if they knew I was a remnant_…'

"Are you from Britain?" One of Billy-ray's younger nieces asked.

"Yes, I'm from London."

"Ah! Your accent is so cute!" Another niece cried. "Say something else! Like, the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog-"

"That's enough, Nat." Her father said, resulting in a pout from the girl. At this Tanith laughed and said the phrase in an overly posh 'British' accent, making the girl giggle uncontrollably.

"Okay then. It's probably time for us to introduce ourselves, although we'll forgive you if you don't learn all our names first go! There's an awful lot of us. So. I'm Lorna, Billy's mom." And they then went round introducing themselves to her. "I heard you've already met my ex-husband?"

"Dreylan Scarab? How could I forget…" Tanith sighed in such a fashion that was far angrier than she'd intended, it seemed that the human part of her was very angry with him.

"Don't worry, he won't be coming here anytime soon. We banned him from this house when we first found out about the… practices he was partakin' in. As for you Billy, don't think we don't know about you meetin' with him."

"Mom! Not in front of Tanith!" He whined before she cuffed him round the head.

"I'll be speaking again with y'all later, and don't think just because I can't do magic I'll go easy on you." His mums eyes narrowed as she shot him a terrifying look that probably stemmed from how everyone else in her family could do all sorts of crazy magical things and she couldn't. "Now then, Tanith, let me show you to your room."

* * *

><p>Upon arriving at the bed and breakfast, one reeking of dried seawater and the other with a large burn covering nearly a quarter of their face, it was clearly visible to the duo that the B&amp;B owner was debating whether to let them in or not. The first thing he'd asked was, "I don't mean to pry, but you've been gone for nearly three days… are you both okay?"<p>

"Yes. We'll be staying for another few hours then departing if that's okay." Valkyrie barked.

"That's fine by me, but are you sure you don't want to call your parents or anything-"

"I said we're okay!"

"I'm not trying to mean or pry, but you're both young and you've got a second degree burn on your face. You needs an ambulance at least!" The B&B owner's hand twitched towards the direction of a phone when he fully realised how bad the burn was.

Almost instantly Caelan dashed forwards, stared the man directly in the eyes and said, "We're fine." And at this the man blinked a few times before shrugging and heading back into the living room where he'd been reading a newspaper. Valkyrie felt a little irritated at how the man hadn't listened to her but decided not to dwell on it and headed up the stairs to their room.

Valkyrie was not one of the girls that showered religiously every morning in any way, or rather if she did it was due to her daily training sessions. But at that moment she longed for nothing more than a long soak. Three days was her usual break between baths when she wasn't out kicking butt, but due to her caving and swimming in a salt water lake (and there could have been _anything_ in it) she was quite looking forwards to the _clean_ that the shower promised.

Lathering her hair in the absurdly flowery shampoo she was amused but not surprised to find all kinds of odd things washing out when she switched the water back on. Small bits of seaweed, sand grains and even a twig came out. Earlier, Caelan had fished out the worst of the seaweed in such a fashion that made her feel awkward due to his fingers combing through her hair, brushing against the bare skin of her neck occasionally. When she turned back around to thank him as if nothing had happened she noticed a strange look on his face and wondered if the mere act of touching her neck made him hungrier than he already was.

The dirt on her skin washed off easily and she quickly saw that in the brief period of time that she'd spent in the sun she'd acquired a very _very_ slight darkening of the skin, and while it wasn't much it was more than her vampire partner had. Upon seeing the rest of her body clean once more and as Caelan hadn't asked for the shower yet she decided to indulge herself and shave her legs to go for the full whammy. Not that it had anything to do with impressing her companion through… of course… Besides, she kept her legs covered most of the time, they were still in England regardless of it being summer!

While she'd headed upstairs Caelan had headed out to his car where he kept his large supply of blood-bags refrigerated. She once asked how they kept cool and fresh to which he responded by explaining how, like many vampires who'd realised they could keep a lower profile by not killing people, the box he kept them in was enchanted with a simple ice spell. In theory vampires couldn't perform magic as their magic went into their immortality, super-human attributes and, of course, the nightly morph into their true form (yet no one had bothered testing them to check due to the eating tendancies), so they'd pay large sums of money to others for their magic. This box was no different. The insides were kept at such a temperature that the blood cells stayed alive without freezing irreversibly or worse decomposing.

Caelan rummaged about in the glove box for a few seconds until he found his scissors and swiftly cut a triangle off the side of the nearest bag. The blood was cold and disgusting. Nothing could hide the fact that it wasn't fresh, and although the cells were still alive it wasn't exactly the same. '_Not like Valkyrie's_…' The mere thought of the blood pulsing through his companion's veins made him want to throw the blood bag aside and sink his teeth into her neck. But it was just his hunger due to not eating in two days, he told himself, and not what he _actually_ wanted to do…

Then again was it not in his nature to want fresh, _warm_ blood? He couldn't exactly pretend he wasn't what he was. It was almost as stupid as trying to delude himself into thinking he was a giraffe for Christ's sake! And he wasn't not eating humans due to a warped sense of conscience either. That was another aspect that he wasn't deluded in. It may have been a romantic notion that a vampire would stop drinking human blood through their love for the human race or a random person they liked, but it didn't work like that. Either drink human blood or die. Drinking a different animals blood was about as nutritionally beneficial as eating plastic to them. Anyway, why was he thinking about this? What he should be worrying about was whether he had enough blood to sustain himself for another few weeks. He could try and acquire another few from a black market somewhere he guessed.

After wolfing down another bag he locked up his car and set back inside again, making sure he had a few of the formulas in his pocket ready; last nights event made him decide to teach Valkyrie how to inject it into him and make sure she had a few on her. As it stood he had four jabs which he could pour the formula into and use to inject with but he'd now give one to Valkyrie and instruct her to keep it with her at all times. She'd been lucky last night to get away with her life. Hopefully there wouldn't be a next time, but if there were she certainly wouldn't have such luck twice in a row.

The feel of newly shaved legs on denim was a heavenly feeling to Valkyrie as she pulled on a fresh pair of skinny jeans on. Wet hair hung down to the middle of her back in clumped strands and dampened her t-shirt, making her shiver and inch towards the radiator under the window until she was sat in front of it with her back pressed up against its warm surface. The sound of tapping keys filled the room, making her eyelids droop until a voice made her jump with, "If I wasn't so cold would you do that to me?"

She cracked an eye open to find Caelan sat on his bed with a laptop and smirked, "Maybe. So when are we going? Hopefully after you get a shower."

The corners of his mouth turned upwards into a smile that revealed his many pointed teeth, "Are you implying I smell? Because I'll have you know as a vampire I don't sweat."

"No, but you did fall into a lake and that certainly smells."

"Fine. Could you book the tickets then?" He walked over to her and plopped the laptop onto her lap. On the screen was a ferry company's web page on booking tickets from England to France. "It should be simple enough, but if there's something you don't know just ask."

"What… you mean go in?" A horrified look flickered across her face.

"No, I mean ask through the door. Sorry to disappoint." He teased before shutting the door and for good measure locking it.

Upon seeing this Valkyrie blushed and said, "Hey, I'm not going to come in or anything!"

His voice was slightly muffled but the message got across, "I'm not sure I can trust you!" Which was soon followed by a shoe being thrown at the door and laughter filling their respective rooms.

"_Spain_?"

"Yes."

"_Spain_?"

"That's what I said."

There was a brief pause before, "_Spain_?" once more. Upon revealing the location of the next fragment Caelan had been pestered by Valkyrie's disbelief for near five minutes. Had his affections towards her been of a different disposition he may have come up with a sarcastic response but instead he remained silent. "I've never been to Spain before."

"Fletcher's not been good to you then. Spain is, in my humble opinion, amongst the best countries in the world." Caelan smiled, eyes focused on the long, straight road ahead. "But I may be bias."

"And why would you say that exactly?"

"I… I guess used to live there."

"You guess you used to?"

"I can't remember exactly, but I think that's where it was."

"That reminds me. The practice task Dayo set me. You were there, and she showed me what you looked like before you were a vampire… I didn't know you changed appearance so much."

"We sometimes don't. I was unlucky. I disliked my freckles, but I didn't hate them that much."

"So you're Spanish then? I'm guessing Caelan is a taken name." At this the vampire nodded but did not continue the conversation.

They were currently on the way to the ferry that would take them to France. From there they'd drive down to Spain, something which would take a few days as although Caelan could go without sleep indefinitely it put him in a state unfit to drive. It was almost as if the transformation into vampire was the alternative to sleep for his body. Thankfully (or was it?) Caelan had brought a two-man tent with him, and although Valkyrie was hesitant to take up on the idea, Caelan was quick to remind her he had enough of the hemlock and wolfsbane formula to last over a year. This led him to start another conversation.

"That reminds me. I forgot to give it to you earlier, but here." He reached into his pocket and fished out the formula-containing jab and passed it to her. As always she noticed how cool it was. Not cold exactly, but being in his pocket had had no effect on its temperature.

"Um… thanks, but I don't really have a use for it." She replied, slightly baffled by his gift.

"It's not for you… well it is but… uh…" He tried. At this Valkyrie grinned, hiding her face by looking out of the window. She certainly found it, well, near _cute_ when he got flustered (although if you asked her she'd forcefully deny it). Thankfully it didn't happen often enough to be a problem. "Look, if I can't get to my formula before turning again, jab me with this." And then added in a tone that got quieter and quieter by the second, "I don't want to see you hurt." This surprised her as he was usually pretty flamboyant and open about caring for her. She wondered what had changed.

"See me hurt? I'd be more worried about you getting another burn." She teased, and then before she realised it lightly rested her hand on top of his for a fleeting moment. "But… thank you." She quickly returned it to her lap and acted as if it had never happened, sliding the jab into her pocket. "Speaking of which have you had your jab for today? It's getting darker by the second."

"I haven't. The next service station is two miles away; we'll stop there. Besides, you need to eat something."

"Will that be enough time?"

"Should be. I can usually tell."

The service station they pulled into was fairly large with quite a few cars already parked, the owners snoozing in the relative safety of the vehicle. Caelan had a large gauze taped to the part of his face that was burned that attracted many odd looks when they ventured inside. Thankfully the fire had only removed the hair on the right side of his face and hadn't burned his eye. The burn was confined to all the skin beneath his eye on his right side and was bright red and peeling like an incredibly more painful version of his sunburn. Valkyrie asked if it hurt him to talk but his only response was how he had a high pain tolerance. '_If he passes out from pain from to trying to look macho I hope he realises that I won't be sympathetic_.'

Due to not eating human food he merely went popped to the loo before heading back to the car to inject the formula. Valkyrie on the other hand went into the _Marks and Spencers simply food_ shop, bought a fruit salad and then decided '_to hell with being healthy_!' and bought some chips from the fast food shop to go with it. She soon joined him in the car and they set off once more, ravaging the warm food in her hand. To be honest, she just couldn't see what it was that made normal food so unappetising to Caelan… although perhaps he felt the same way towards her food as she would feel towards gulping down someone's blood.

"Does my food smell bad to you?" She asked to confirm her suspicions.

"Would it offend you if I said yes?" He replied after a few seconds. She took this as a yes.

The fruit salad wasn't the freshest it could have been, but it was still tasty (although there was something odd tasting about the mango that she just couldn't place). Caelan jokingly asked why she hadn't offered him any to which she answered with 'You already drank most of my blood the other day, I think I'm entitled to keeping my fruit salad to myself!'

Night eventually took over the sky as darkness infiltrated the car, making both the people inside thankful that the vampire had taken his formula. There had been no showy sunset that day due to the excessive cloud cover so telling the time would have been tricky if not for the clock on the dashboard. Due to it being an English car, Valkyrie could not see the burn she'd inflicted on Caelan. She was sat on the left hand side of the car, thus she could only see his left side, where as the burn was on the right.

While in the service station she'd picked up a pack of paracetamol for him, hoping it would somehow remove some of the pain as she felt a little guilty for having inflicted such a painful burn on him. Yet when she offered it to him he shook his head and apologised, telling her that human medicines would not work on him; he'd have to wait for it to heal on its own and take the pain as it came. To be honest, it seemed like an odd macho ploy to her, but nether the less she pocketed the pain killers and told him they'd be waiting for him when he was willing to give it a go.

What she wanted to know was something completely different. Why was it that when she told the owner of the bed and breakfast they were fine he didn't believe her, but when Caelan said exactly the same thing he did? He even had a large burn on his face that should have indicated the exact opposite of what he'd said, but still the man believed him over her!

Neither of them looked completely innocent, but in general Valkyrie looked slightly more trust worthy than the vampire. Perhaps it was because even though you wouldn't suddenly assume 'Vampire!' at first glance, there was something slightly wrong about Caelan. As much as he tried to conceal them, even in human guise his teeth were all pointed as if filled down to a point, and although a mere flash of his teeth wouldn't consciously affect you the subconscious part of the mind would send warning signals throughout your body. And then there was the strange predatory way in which he moved that if you didn't know him would set your mind on edge. Actually… if you didn't know he wouldn't hurt you as she knew you'd be inclined to think he was dangerous… but wasn't he? She'd seen how he glanced at other people as if they were nothing more than walking meals, and although he didn't act aggressively, clear signs of 'don't bother to start a conversation' exuded from his posture and speech patterns around others. He told her he no longer ate people, but for all she knew he could be eating people whenever she slept…

A quick look at him revealed nothing to her. It was almost as if he were a completely different person around her, and the only thing that would put her mind slightly more at rest was '_I didn't lead him on_.'

The roads leading to the ferry were complicated and if not for Caelan assuring her he'd been before, she would have been convinced they were lost. As with the trip into England, when it came to the passport check Caelan slipped into a strong Cork accent as if to make it more convincing he was Irish, which Valkyrie now knew was a lie. Her accent was already Irish sounding so she didn't have any problems there. It was strange to think of him as Spanish; his English was amazing considering, having a couple decades of practice probably helped.

Before he hid his passport she took it from him and spent a few minutes flicking through it and to his annoyance laughing at his photo. "You look so… so _blank_!" She snorted until he found her photo and reminded her how ridiculous she herself looked.

"You're so pale in your photo that even _I_ look tanned." A carefully raised eyebrow accompanied by a smirk from the lady in question made him rephrase it to, "Well, maybe not _tanned_ but you know what I mean."

Unlike their last ferry this one was far bigger with a seating area for the passengers at the top of the boat. She picked up her sci-fi novel and joined Caelan as they made the journey to the top half of the ferry. The seats were plush and blue and as soon as his head touched the headrest Caelan had fallen asleep. Heating was apparently very important to the crew, and after a matter of seconds Valkyrie had shrugged off her jacket and set off to explore the areas open to passengers. Considering the trip would take a little under three hours, she couldn't really see why such an elaborate shop was necessary. In another part was a play area with large foam structures for young children to clamber over and a television set into the wall playing a movie. Most of the passengers consisted of French families returning home after a holiday in England, although like Valkyrie and Caelan there were a few young adults perhaps on their gap year. One such winked at her as she passed which she dutifully ignored.

After about ten minutes she found a room where the captain of the boat was driving through a highest glass window. Most of the people in the room where young children and their parents bouncing up and down at how the boat was being moved. For Valkyrie the scene wasn't as exciting so she found her way back to her seat and, briefly catching the eye of the boy who'd winked at her, smirked and rested her head on Caelan's shoulder, feigning affection. Of course, she ignored the fact that she wouldn't have minded terribly if she stayed in that position for longer… good thing he was still asleep. As soon as the boy looked away she curled her legs up beneath her and still leaning on him lost herself in her novel.

Caelan never did bring up how she awoke sleeping on his shoulder to find him reading her book. The Caelan she once knew would have mentioned it constantly but instead he gave her a small smile accompanied by an affectionate look before they set off to the car. The only explanation she could come up with was how she was training him better. Although, of course, it may have been overshadowed by a later event that was the bulk of his teasing.

As it was four years ago when she went on holiday with her family, France in summer was pretty hot. The further away they got from the ferry the hotter it got. Both the necromancer and the vampire were nearly asleep despite driving, so almost as soon as they got off the ferry they decided 'stuff the tent' and booked a hotel room. Their complete inability to stay focused meant that they accepted the first room suggested and collapsed on the bed next to each other without even getting under the covers or changing into their pyjamas. It was forgivable given Valkyrie hadn't slept properly in 20 hours, although Caelan had slightly less of an excuse. He claimed that not only did driving tire him out but also that his body had gotten used to sleeping again and becoming a vampire didn't reinvigorate him in the same way it used to.

Even in sleep there was something slightly disconcerting about his face, so waking up with it only a few inches from her own froze her in place from a mixture of fear and something else that she couldn't (or rather _wouldn't_) place. He may well have been dead as she watched him; he didn't move at all other than his eyes flicking around under their lids as he dreamed. He spoke proudly about his dreaming, as if it was a great achievement, and in a way, for him, it was. His lips briefly twitched as she guessed he was having a good dream and his usually slick and gelled back hair was all ruffled again, making him look far younger. It was only when his eyes flicked back open and looked at her with slight confusion that she realised not only how creepy she was being by staring at him (bad teenage fiction anyone?) but also how close they were and how his just-awake gaze brought an odd feeling in her chest. So she all but leapt backwards and fell off the bed, resulting in a sore head and even worse attitude for the rest of the day. Needless to say that it was this matter that he constantly teased her about.

Once they were back in the car Caelan slurped down another bag of blood and they got on their way, Valkyrie refusing to even look at him from embarrassment (she still had a faint pink tinge to her cheeks). Due to it being morning still the temperatures were still fairly crisp, but they knew in just a few hours the sun would begin to go all out on them at it would get to 25 degrees Celsius plus, and they were still in the northern part of France. So as soon as it hit one pm they were forced to put the air conditioning on. This made Valkyrie laugh as the rest of the time she'd been in the car the heating had been on at full blast so Caelan could pretend he had some body heat.

Temperatures soon soared until they reached their peak at twenty-eight degrees Celsius. Caelan, now, had no qualms about how his blood bags were cold and Valkyrie bought ice creams at every break to keep cool. It seemed that like humans vampires got dehydrated in the heat and needed to drink water as well. They got through several large bottles of water in the first few hours and were relieved when Caelan found the first campsite they'd decided to stay at and even happier when he realised he'd miscalculated and would only need to stay another night before they were in Spain.

As campsites went it was fairly nice, but not so great that it would seem suspicious for what looked like two students to be staying at. It was a three-star with tall trees lining the path with the plots that cast a welcome shade onto the caravans and tents. There were fewer families than there would have been earlier on in the summer holidays but still enough for the air to have a carefree and playful feel to it. One such family were camping opposite them and since they were Danish neither Caelan nor Valkyrie could understand a word they were saying. But they seemed pleasant enough and as for their cooking… Valkyrie only hoped that she'd be able to make something that smelt half as good.

Valkyrie did not take Caelan to be a camping, outdoorsy type, and these suspicions were confirmed when the tent he pulled out was one that opened out itself. She sympathised with this as she didn't have a clue on how to put up a tent either. When she found that she'd completely forgotten to bring anything to eat (as she hadn't expected to be camping) and neither had her vampire companion she was forced to ask the receptionist for a nearby takeaway before they left for the night. Luckily for her they were on the outskirts of a small town so she got directions to a pizza takeaway.

It was only after they'd both eaten (Caelan's in the safety of the car) that they realised how small the tent was and settled down for the night in its uncomfortable, close quarters. What with the sound of the other campers, the heat and the closeness of her companion… it was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p><strong>So, sorry, not only is this chapter fairly short and fillerish, but I won't be able to update the next chapter until two fortnights away at the latest as I'm going on holiday and won't be able to write for a while. The next chapter should hopefully be more interesting as they find themselves in the next fragments location!<strong>

**And on this note I wish to apologise for how ridiculous my review messages were getting. I sounded like a whiney brat and I'll remove them, and to be honest I don't blame you at all for not saying anything. I mean, I wouldn't either… but seriously if there was something bad about the last chapter, don't hesitate to tell me ^^**

**And thank you for sticking with me! We're at about 50,000 words now! **


	10. Isla de la Infección

The interior of the tent was filled with an odd blue glow as sunlight filtered through the thin fabric of the walls. Small birds tweeted high up in the trees, calling to their companions and created an innocent and near cliché feel to the air that was accompanied by rustling leaves and the sound of grasshopper's cries.

Valkyrie's eyes flickered open and for a few seconds she felt inexplicably cold, the first thing she noticed. The second was how she was the only person in the tent. She sat up quickly, forgetting how low the ceiling was and hitting it with her head. Fingers found themselves seeking out where her companion had been not hours before and it was not unpleasantly cool to the touch – as if he'd never been there. Perhaps the body, however, never had warmed it given that it was a vampire who had slept there.

Preparing to go out and hunt him down for any unfortunate persons sake (a vampire first thing in the morning was bad news for everyone), Valkyrie's hand was stopped from pulling the opening zip down. The tent rustled and shook by another person opening it first and she decided it said something about the company she kept, and indeed the enemies she made that her first instinct was to look for a suitable weapon just in case. Of course the head that popped in was Caelan's looking slightly sheepish, soon followed by the rest of him as he sat next to her.

"It's you." Was the best she could come up with at such a time in the morning. It was shortly followed by, "Where were you?"

"Good morning to you too. I, uh, went to buy you breakfast… but I forgot I can't speak French so it didn't really work." He shrugged, empty-handed.

"Oh. Well, um, thanks. It's the thought that counts." Her words sounded awkward to her as she spoke them. What he did sounded like something Fletcher would do.

"Did you sleep well? Did I… I'm sorry if I kept you up. If I was too cold I'll sleep in the car next time. If there is one of course."

"Oh. No, not at all." She shook her head in short, quick motions, glad for the tents warped colours hiding her slight blush. The previous night had been extremely hot, so as soon as she was certain he was asleep she unashamedly pressed her back fully against his, trying to leech the cold from his skin.

Yet despite this, it irked her a little at how he was still attempting everything he could to please her. But then again, she supposed, Fletcher wasn't much better. Valkyrie sat up properly and ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to finger-comb it slightly neater. The attempt was not successful. Even so it served one purpose - to hide herself from Caelan's gaze. The way he was looking at her, that also annoyed her to no end, as if there were some way she'd conveniently forget about how she already had a boyfriend and how he was a vampire. _'Yeah right, Caelan, as if I'd forget so easily_.' But, of course, he could not read her mind, and so her silent musings went by unnoticed by the man next to her.

Then, fully intending to go get changed in the toilet block she was distracted by his lips briefly pressing onto hers, his body pushing her gently down into the sleeping-bags, only to move back again and give her a slightly cocky smile before she could shove him off and pretend she didn't enjoy it a little. Before Valkyrie could say a word, however, he said, "The usual?"

And Valkyrie being her usual eloquent self replied, "What?"

"Pretend it never happened and get on with what we were doing before, I take it?"

"Of course. Yes, exactly that." And with what he could have sworn was a smirk she turned and marched off to get changed.

'_That went well_.' He thought, _'Well, she didn't beat me up anyway. It's a start_.'

* * *

><p>Breakfast, for Valkyrie, consisted of a single tomato, which may have concerned Caelan if he had even the slightest indication of what it was humans ate. She seemed happy enough with it though, and considering all they'd be doing for the next few hours was driving it probably wasn't a bad idea to eat a small amount. The packing of the tent was a monumentous task that took nearly half an hour of curses and sitting on it until Caelan remembered the instructions in the bag. After they were read it took less than three minutes to get it packed up again and slung into the boot. This action made the suitcase Gordon's echo stone was in jerk suddenly and Valkyrie could have sworn she heard a grumble come from it. And with that they left the campsite.<p>

As with he day before as soon as it hit ten 'o' clock the temperatures began to soar, and now more so since they were further south. At the last check the thermometer in the dashboard declared it to be forty degrees Celsius, but as it was probably inside the car it would doubtlessly be reflecting a higher temperature than what it was. At one point Caelan jokingly asked her if she wanted to stop and sunbathe. She responded to his question with another: "Do you seriously place any hope in one of us getting slightly tanned in the time we have?"

"Not really... if I'm honest."

They both chuckled good-naturedly, but Valkyrie wanted to think and did not try to continue the conversation. The night before she'd had a strange dream, one where she has been talking to Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly and Fletcher on why she put up with Caelan. So in this dream, she told them quite simply that he was a weapon useful to their cause. The sense of detachment she'd had made her wince a little. For one reason or another she was having difficulty assigning which weapon he was, but eventually came to a conclusion. The minute he'd begun to harbour feelings for her, he had become a grenade in her hand, the pin removed and lost the moment he'd kissed her for the first time. A vampire was a weapon, a rare, exotic weapon, but one none the less. She wasn't sure when the vampire would explode, metaphorically of course, but it would happen.

Yet now she was awake that idea didn't seem to work; a grenade you could use once only for shockingly obvious damage. There was no subtlety or elegance in an explosion. No, he wasn't a grenade as such as a tool that could be used as a weapon. A knife perhaps. One could use a knife as a tool and with multiple uses, yet one false move and it could just as easily cut the user.

Looking at him from the corner of her eyes she noted his every quirk in a new fashion. How he pushed his hair back if it weren't already smoothed back perfectly. How his fingers drummed on the steering wheel at every stop, indicating that he was less patient than he, and indeed vampires as a whole, seemed. How he seemed to blink more than the average person. How he had unconsciously picked up her inspection and began to bite his lower lip.

They left the smaller French roads and finally found themselves on the road leading to the Spanish boarder. Just in the distance a small line of cars was visible, accompanied by a series of booths where people were showing passports. Suddenly concerned, Caelan leaned across to the glove box and rummaged around.

"Couldn't you just ask me to look for you?" Valkyrie suggested.

"Ah, yes, that would be easier. I'm not sure where I put the passports." He said. However after quite a bit of frantic searching the missing passports where still nowhere to be found and Caelan was getting unusually worked up about it all. So when their window aligned with that of the passport checks, Caelan had to lean over Valkyrie and exchange a few sentences of fluent Spanish, although it seemed to do the trick and they drove off into Spain.

The landscape was beautiful in a rugged sort of way. Tough, yellowing grasses and olive groves dominated the landscape, framed by dry soil and the purple of the mountains and lit by the unwavering stare of the sun. The car continued to get hotter, meaning at one stage of the journey Valkyrie casually brushed the bare skin of her shoulder against Caelan's pale forearm only to find his skin as warm as hers. There went her plan for keeping cool.

It was when Valkyrie asked, "Are we there yet?" that they both realised how bored of driving they both were.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, how could we possibly be _'there'_, where ever _'there'_ is?" The vampire sighed.

"It's entirely possible. I have no idea where we're going, other than 'Spain', which isn't terribly helpful."

"My apologies, elemental, would you like a diagram perhaps? Or maybe a PowerPoint presentation?" He snapped in response.

Valkyrie's reply came quickly and coldly, not picking up that if the vampire that claimed to love her was getting angry at her she should probably stop while ahead. "Don't patronise me, Caelan. I have no idea where we're going and you know it."

"For god's sake! The reason I'm not telling you is so that you can feel vaguely safe before we get there." He ran a hand through his hair, making it sit oddly on his head.

At this Valkyrie's curiosity piqued with morbid fascination at whatever it was that Caelan deemed would scare her. "So where exactly are we going then? I've not heard of any large magical communities in Spain"

Caelan chuckled, yet it didn't reach his eyes, "It has always fascinated me how it hasn't been noticed yet by the Spanish sanctuary... at least not officially anyway. Perhaps they're being bribed into silence... or blackmailed."

"So where is it then?" Valkyrie tried again but was met with silence and pouted to the surrounding scenery. "I've fought with all kinds of monster. Even gods and not one nightmare. I'm fairly certain I could handle it." Although it was partially a lie, she'd have terrible nightmares for several weeks after each encounter where violence was necessary. Occasionally she'd be freaked out enough to try and resist going to sleep, instead choosing to fling her eyes back open and stare at the floor whenever sleep tried to creep up on her. But, of course, she wouldn't tell him this as he'd try to do something about it, and hell, she hadn't even told Skulduggery about the nightmares, so chances of the vampire finding out were slim.

"Sorry, but I'll only tell you when we get there." he said with a shake of the head, pulling the young necromancer back to their current conversation. "Anyway, I promised myself that before we went in I'd treat you to a tapas."

"What?"

"You really are an eloquent young lady aren't you?" Caelan grinned.

"Caelan..." She began, her voice sounding weary.

"Can't two friends go for a meal?" His dark gaze briefly captured her. "Besides, I won't even be eating anything, so it's hardly as if it's a date or anything."

The metaphor of a knife came back into her mind. This weapon could as easily turn on her as on, at the moment, _their_ enemies. Perhaps it was best to be slightly heartless on her part and do this merely to keep the handle of the knife firmly in her hand. "If you insist, Caelan."

"You will enjoy it. I promise you that."

And to her immense surprise she did. Okay, so it was a little awkward eating when the person sat across from you was merely toying with a glass of water, but other than that. The food was amazing, as were the views. Caelan had parked in a small town next to the sea with hundreds of small market stands opening out into the pavement. The sun was low on the horizon meaning it was a cool temperature and that Caelan didn't have to cover up so much; convenient for both. They'd chosen a table that looked out to the ocean so by the time they'd finished the sky was filled with a full moon and thousands of stars, and as soon as it hit nighttime the city seemed to come alive. All manner of people were out buying goods, watching the night sky and simply being. They got so distracted by it all that the vampire almost forgot to take the suppressant, meaning it had to be done by injecting it in the bathroom like a drug addict at the start of the meal. Caelan shuddered as it entered his bloodstream. It may have been what he wanted, to prevent the real vampire emerging, but damn the formula hurt!

After the meal they walked out to the end of a stone pier and stared at the stars. It was a credit to how she felt slightly more comfortable around him that Valkyrie lay down on her back to get a better view. Caelan on the other hand didn't want to push his luck and remained sitting.

"I wonder how everyone's doing…" She said quietly.

"Everyone? That's quite a broad question."

"You know what I mean. Skulduggery, Ghastly… Fletcher. I wonder if they're looking for me."

Caelan replied, "Well, if they're actually your friends they'll be looking for you this minute."

"Hmm." Valkyrie continued staring upwards, as if the stars would reveal some kind of answers to her. "I did tell them not to come looking for me… at least I think so anyway… actually I'm not sure."

"Even if you did they'll still come. You're like that skeleton's kid." He then paused, as if uncertain about whether to continue his sentence, and then said it anyway. "You know, when I first met you I got the impression that Skulduggery was your partner or something by the way you spoke of him."

"Uh… he is."

"No, I meant romantically." He explained. At this Valkyrie sat up suddenly, propping herself up on her elbows to stare at him.

"Really? Eugh! He's like that crazy, eccentric uncle I… well I was going to say never had, but Gordon…"

"Yeah, I think you already had one of those."

"But anyway, besides that, he's also only bones!" She laughed, lay back down and without realising it her fingers lightly brushed against the vampires.

"How was I supposed to know? I'd never actually seen him before. I assumed the skeleton rumours were, well, rumours." The vampire tested her and moved his fingers a little closer to hers until their little fingers were crossed.

"So the _vampire_ thinks that an _animated skeleton_ is a stupid thought?"

Valkyrie smirked up at him and was a little confused to see that strange look in his eyes again, but it soon left as he turned away and replied, "Even for people who've dealt with magic for around a century, animated skeletons is weird. Another thing that's weird is how he took a non-magic girl as his apprentice and not only is she skilled at elemental magic, but also at necromancy."

"Are you calling me weird Mr… actually… do you even have a last name?" Valkyrie, in Caelan's opinion, seemed a little giddy.

"No, it's just Caelan… and I forgot my given name, so that's the way it'll stay." He then stood up and dusted himself down before passing a hand down towards Valkyrie. "Come, I think you need some sleep. You should be rested before we go to find the second fragment."

The next day the vampire was shrouded with an air of barely suppressed dread, whereas Valkyrie was mentally slapping her forehead at how forthright she had been the night before. It was only when the car veered off into a little used road through a small copse of trees that Valkyrie took interest at where they were going.

"Don't tell me we're meeting up with a bunch of woodland fairies."

"You wish." Caelan teased, but didn't offer any more clues as to where they were going. As they continued down the road it got rougher and bumpier and Valkyrie was forced to grab hold of, well, _anything_ to stop her crashing around so much. And then a slap of feet on the breaks and they both lurched forwards, seatbelts tightening around their chests and prompting an 'OOF!' from both of them.

"_You call that driving_?" A voice cried from the back.

"I'd like to see you do better on these roads." Caelan replied without thinking… and then he realised, there was no person in the back. They both turned to see an angry looking Gordon sat on the back seat glaring at the vampire. "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh! It's you!" Gordon's eyes widened, "You're the vampire that killed another vampire! Good lord Stephanie! You didn't tell me he was _that_ vampire!"

"I thought you said you'd stay hidden!" She growled.

Barely listening to his niece, he roared, "Get out the car! Quick! I'll do my best to distract him!"

"Gordon, he's not going to hurt me!"

"How did your uncle get in the car?" Caelan asked Valkyrie, confusion clear on his face. "I thought he died five years ago?"

"He did. He's in an echo stone."

"Stephanie!"

"Shush, Gordon! Right, he overheard our conversation and said he would tell Skulduggery where we were going unless I took him with me." She explained as best she could. Caelan merely looked from Valkyrie to Gordon to Valkyrie again, feeling a little embarrassed that this echo stone had heard his failed attempts at flirting with Valkyrie, not to mention every conversation they'd had in the car.

"And you've been listening in the entire time?" The vampire asked.

"No, only most of the time… but back to business. Not that I'm complaining, but why haven't you tried to eat my niece yet?" The echo stone resident demanded.

"Why? Would you like me to?" A feral grin spread across the vampires face.

"I think the 'not that I'm complaining' part of my previous sentence answers your question. I would say young man but I don't doubt for a second that you're probably twice my age."

"Uh… yes, that's… that's probably true." Caelan stuttered at how open the man was being, although, already being dead probably helped when dealing with a vampire. "Well then, I, uh, I don't want to eat her… sir."

Valkyrie noticed how he slipped into the same polite mode as he had with his first meeting with Skulduggery and also noticed how he didn't mention the fact that he had _indeed_ tried to eat her.

Yet Gordon still persisted, as if he didn't notice how awkward the vampire was looking. In fact, he probably had noticed and was revelling in the fact that he was making a vampire feel uncomfortable, and to be honest Valkyrie was intrigued with this and didn't stop him. "Why not? The only vampires I knew that didn't eat humans were dead by the end of the month, and you're quite old… for a human that is."

"That would be because I still eat humans." He managed after a break, choosing to avoid the previous question. "Well, their blood anyway, sir."

Gordon then disappeared and they carried on as if nothing had happened, although they both remained silent, worried that he'd be listening in. She mouthed a quick sorry but it went ignored, she wondered if his pride had been wounded. '_Men_.'

They continued driving for another ten minutes until they reached what appeared to be an underground car park. Most of the cars seemed to be old, rusting and dusty, although there were a few newer ones that looked in better condition. Caelan parked the car then grabbed Valkyrie's rucksack filled with her clothes and other essentials, threw it at her and then locked the car. The sun was exceptionally bright outside, forcing the vampire to put his near trademark white baseball cap on then pull his hood up to keep the sun off as much of him as possible. She often wondered how he didn't over heat in such a get up as she was only wearing cut-offs and a vest.

Before they left the relative cool of the car park he turned to her and asked, "Do you have any sun cream?"

* * *

><p>A small arrow carved into the wall was the only indication that the community hidden in the cliff face and its surrounding caves was near. Well, that and the well worn soil surrounding it. The footsteps seemed only to be leading in the direction it indicated, not one Valkyrie looked at were heading back. "Well if that's not discouraging then I don't know is…"<p>

Rising for over twenty metres, the cliff face was made of a pale rock and was covered in ivy that tumbled over it like water, providing brief islands of shade for the odd lizard. As at the campsite birds called backwards and forwards to each other, yet these were different birds as far as they could tell. From what she'd heard walks in the countryside were supposed to be relaxing, and indeed it should have been, wandering through a forest with dappled sunlight hitting their backs and birdsong filling the air, interrupted only by the grasshoppers and the crunch of dried leaves beneath them. But the fact was they were far from calm. The slightest unexpected noise making them flinch then scan the surrounding area with wide eyes like prey.

Caelan's reply brought her back from one such examination of the cliff face with, "You'll be fine, you've got your pet vampire with you."

Despite herself, a small smile worked its way onto her face and she lightly poked him in the side. "Yeah, don't need to worry about anything." But the smile then faded from her face as she added, "But don't go out of your way to protect me if something goes wrong. What you've said about this place… Look, just remember that I can take care of my self. I've got used to… to having you around… don't die or anything…" Her voice was nearly silent at the end.

"Same goes for you… also because I think Skulduggery would kill me if anything happened to you… and your uncle would find a way as well I'm sure."

"He probably would." She snorted.

"Unless you tell them about me biting you… in which case I'm a dead man walking."

"To be honest, I still haven't forgiven you for that." Valkyrie then added: "But… I guess I won't tell them. Unless you try it again." to lighten the atmosphere. Being completely serious around the vampire tended to lead to places she didn't want.

And so they resumed their trekking, Caelan proving to be worse at long walks than she was. After only five minutes he complained of a stitch and had to sit for a while, although since he didn't need to breathe she imagined it had nothing to do with catching his breath. Their single water bottle was drained after the first hour and after that they just complained about how thirsty they were as if it would actually do something. They once found a small freshwater stream and they were both prepared to drink some of it, but then Valkyrie realised that she'd probably get sick if she drank it and instead had to make do with watching Caelan drink it. His vampire disease fought off any other antigens in his body, meaning not only did he never get ill but also he could drink any water, no matter how stagnant, with no ill effects. Man, she hated him sometimes.

"Times like these I wish I was a vampire." She joked, as she watched him scooping it into his hands and pouring it into his mouth. But evidently due to her thirst and jealously it came out sounding near serious.

"You really don't." He replied, wiping away water from around his mouth. "It's shit."

As it went, he tended not to swear often as such swearwords were from before his time, and indeed from another language. This led her to believe that as she'd suspected the first time she'd seen a vampire when she was twelve, it really wasn't all pretty-boys and high collared cloaks.

"I can believe that… and I was joking, just in case you get a sudden urge to change me into one in my sleep."

"I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. Like hell I'm sharing my blood bags with you."

They smiled at each other then carried on.

After another hour it was bang on two 'o' clock in the afternoon and they found themselves at a large fissure in the rock. Valkyrie looked at him and then the fissure before uttering, "A natural cave… no one would suspect. And I imagine the only people that would sniff around it are the odd hiker or cave enthusiast."

He nodded, "Are you ready to go in. We should be okay for a few more hours. Just remember, try not to draw attention to either of us, but especially yourself, and go with whatever I say, okay?"

At this Valkyrie fully understood the meaning of 'my blood ran cold' as she realised who exactly lived in the cave. But before she could test this theory any more Caelan began to go in and she was forced to tag along. At first the cave passage was freezing, something her body wasn't quite used to and she wished that Caelan had even the slightest bit of body heat radiating from him to make it that slightest bit warmer. And then, somehow it did get warmer and light seemed to come down from small sconces on the wall that suddenly flashed into life. Some algae grew on the walls underneath the lights joined by small ferns and other saplings giving an eerie glow to anything not lit by the lamps.

"Those algae are phosphorescent. They absorb trace amounts of magic and then emit it as a glow. Can't imagine why, but I'm sure it has some evolutionary benefit… somehow." Caelan pointed out as they passed a small glowing patch on the wall, and then sighed. "This one won't be as easy as the last."

"Well, if almost being turned into a vegetable then nearly getting mauled by a vampire is considered 'easy' then I'm dreading the next tests Dayo will set us." Valkyrie grunted, keeping her feet on the path directly in front of her until a distant roar made her look up. "What's that?"

"An underground waterfall."

"Of course." She muttered. "Will we have to go through it?" Valkyrie then asked, remembering a scene in a movie where such a thing had happened.

"No, why would we? It would be pretty wet wouldn't it?" He turned just enough for her to see his smile. She scowled.

Water seemed to be a thing for whoever this community were. Once they passed the massive waterfall they were greeted by an underground town complete with lanterns, neon signs and trees… somehow. The pavements were all dark, and like in Venice, canals had replaced all roads and it became apparent why these people needed such a huge waterfall – it was a source of water. There was no sunlight, yet an odd sort of ambient light filled the immense cavern, creating the impression of a permanent dusk. People were out and about is if it were a normal town, and at the centre of it all a vast tree stood, fifteen metres tall and drenched in a round, red fruit that looked suspiciously like a pomegranate, surrounded by bars and a carpet of grass.

"Here we are." Caelan announced suddenly, making her jump slightly even though his voice was a near whisper. "Isla de la Infección."

'_And I thought Northside-on-sea was going to be difficult to find it in_…'

* * *

><p>"What is the meaning of this!" An old man cried as a tall, blonde woman in leather entered the room and locked the door behind her. As far as he'd been led to believe this was a private reunion between friends. Two middle-aged women and their respective partners, a male construction worker, a retired dentist, a group of four people in their late twenties in matching suits surrounded him, joined by a little girl. "Just who do you think you are?"<p>

The woman turned slowly with a smile on her face, an honest-to-god, friendly and non-threatening smile. And then for most people this smile was ruined by her lips turning black and veins spreading out from them with the same dark colouration. Yet for these people this was the biggest reassurance she could have given them, and so they returned the favour and their lips became black too.

"Hmm, there's not many of you." And then the woman began to count them. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen counting me. Well, that'll have to do I guess. So, it's about time we introduced ourselves isn't it? Hello, I'm Tanith, and I'm here with news about something that could kill us all off. Have I got your attention yet?" And she smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm going to have fun with this new town! :)<strong>

**Weird thought: next time I update there's a 99.9% chance that I'll have read 'Skulduggery Pleasant: the death bringer' and you'll read through this and think, whoa, this is nothing like the sequel to mortal coil! It's out on the first of September for English peeps, I'm not sure if it's the same for all English speaking countries? Also, I thought I'd made up the title for this, but I recently remembered 'The Dispossessed' is my mum's favourite book, weird! **

**And thanks to all those who wished me a happy holiday! It was great fun! Anyway, I wrote this one faster than the others to make up for the two-week gap, but the next one will be on the once a fortnight schedule as I have loads of homework!**

**Also, just wondering if people find it helpful that I have how far on I am with the next chapter on the bio section of my page? It would be cool to know how many people check it out :)**

**And thank you to all those who reviewed and for reading this! **


	11. Worse Than Darquesse

Precisely four minutes later Tanith was sat down with a piping hot mug of coffee in her hand and the attention of the old man who seemed to be in charge, not to mention everyone else in the room. '_A room full of remnants and they're all listening to me. How strange_.'

"I'm sure you've all heard of Darquesse, right?" Tanith began, reassured by all the nods that surrounded her. "Well, until now I believed that Darquesse was the most powerful being… mortal anyway. But it seems I was wrong, we all were."

"So, you're trying to tell us that there's something more powerful than Darquesse around?" The little girl asked with a surprisingly deep voice like a fully-grown woman's and a strong Somerset accent.

"At her current strength, yes. It seems that making her Darquesse against her will makes her lose much of her power. But if we can somehow convince her to unleash it on her own terms then she should be powerful enough to take it on."

"Why should we use our weapons against it?" One of the four suited remnants asked. "Chances are it won't affect us in the slightest."

"Because that's less to possess for our trapped brethren, numbskull." Said the dentist, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"There aren't seven billion of us, even if it kills fifty percent of the population it won't affect is." Another suited remnant added. "We shouldn't do anything."

The dentist, seemingly enraged by their apparent stupidity plucked a sharp looking dentistry tool from her pocket and hurled it at one of the suits, embedding it in their arm. Interestingly enough, Tanith noticed, all four flinched in pain.

"So what is this new power then, Tanith?" The old man asked. "It's not an elemental is it?"

"Pfft, in their dreams! Their powers are spread out over four different paths of magic making them much weaker." Tanith snorted, and then all merriment was wiped off her face as she frowned, "No, I'm not completely sure what it is… but as we thought with Darquesse, to release this beings power it must be possessed by a remnant."

"So we spread the word to all the remnants not to possess this bloke then! Simple!" The construction worker said, pulling his helmet down over his eyes and seemingly falling asleep.

"It's not as simple as that. We have no idea who it is yet. Remember how long it took to find Darquesse? Someone could possess them by accident and let it loose on the world without realising it." Tanith reminded the group, hoping that she wasn't loosing them already.

"If it was one of us possessing them surely they'd be on our side?" The little girl questioned.

"Clearly you weren't there when Darquesse was released." Tanith snapped. "It was a complete disaster. She killed many of us purely for her own amusement. Sure, she's our deity, but even so I'm in no rush to release that again."

"I thought that's what you wanted. To release Darquesse against this… thing." The old man asked, confused.

"Yes, but not by possessing her. Her personality would depend too much on the remnant joining with her. If, and only if, she becomes it on her own behalf will she have some semblance of control. And control is imperative to power. Guiding your power to one strike is far better than just throwing it all over the place until you're worn out."

Another suit posed a question, "But joining a remnant to this other thing would give it more power?"

"Yes. But as I was saying this would be to our advantage. It would be just as powerful but it wouldn't be as smart as her. A battle of brawns over brain if you will." Tanith was close to joining the dentist and hurling sharp objects at the suit quad.

The construction worker tipped his hat up and looked at Tanith with amusement, "And how many of us are actually on the outside anyway? There's us thirteen and that's it. And we can't even leave these bodies. We'll be fine."

"And… I guess I've heard that who it'll formerly be will be a dead being. But not a vampire." Tanith realised that it sounded ridiculous. Even if there were any on the outside, a remnant couldn't possess something that was dead. It was impossible.

"Okay, so if we ignore the fact that it's impossible to possess a dead being, magically animated or not, what could it be other than a vampire? They're certainly the most numerous dead being. Oh god… it's not that zombie duo is it?" One of the middle aged women groaned.

"Impossible. I've… taken care of them. They were bothering one of my friends." Tanith grinned in a manner reminiscent of a cat that had just brought you a half dead bird. "Anyway, from what I've heard the remnant is already inside them, but dormant. Not that I know how that happened."

She then receives multiple looks from the remnants that surrounded her which included blank gazes and a few glares. Eventually the old man said, "Well, you could have said that in the first place!"

"So you'll help?" Tanith mentally kicked herself for sounding so weak, but it was necessary.

"Of course, love. There's so few of us we're pretty much family, if you'll excuse how cliché that sounded." One of the middle-aged quad grinned.

"Thank you very much. And sorry for having to come and ask for help like some weakling, but I couldn't really think of anything else to do." She sighed, cupping her face in her palms.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help if you can't do something on your own. Something many seem to be forgetting." The little girl smiled. "I'd probably be dead by now several times over if I hadn't asked for help."

Then, as they should have done at the beginning they all introduced themselves and told her their stories. Unlike Tanith most seemed to have accidentally been released and forgot to get out of their hosts before they were permanently merged. Although the most interesting remnants there were the four suits: two boys, two girls and each had a different card suit sown onto the pocket of their suits. All four were possessed by just one remnant, although how no one knew, not even the remnant themselves. Either way they were a fierce fighting quad, near unmatchable in strength due the way they fought as a unit, knowing each other's moves and seamlessly backing each other up.

They then all caught up with each other like an old group of friends, chatting as if they hadn't seen each other in years, which was probably true given immortals grasp of time. The little girl seemed to be the oldest remnant there ironically enough, the dentist the youngest other than Tanith. The girl had been around since the end of the fourteenth century and the dentist the nineteen-forties.

And it was then when Tanith looked at the clock on the wall and announced, "Damn. Is that the time? I've got to go now. Where will you be tomorrow?"

"We can arrange here again. Same time?" The little girl asked, and was replied with a nod.

"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow!" Tanith waved and left the building feeling cheerier than she'd felt in a while, although at the same time she felt slightly guilty and couldn't begin to understand why. "It's nothing." She told herself before climbing into Sanguine's convertible and speeding down the dusty Texan roads.

* * *

><p>While Tanith was getting tanned out in the warmth of the sun, Valkyrie could only dream of such light as she and Caelan descended into the city of Isla de la Infección, which was more than a bit of a mouthful to think, let alone say. The closer they got the tenser Caelan got, and as a result Valkyrie as well. It seemed that his human instincts had kicked in as he began to inhale and exhale deeply, as if his body was preparing him for a fight. They were still quite a way up from the city and walking down a narrow path that was practically at a thirty-degree slope with plenty of loose pebbles.<p>

All this once sent Valkyrie slipping into Caelan and made him fall on top of her, but rather than being romantic and sexually tense the back of his head cracked against her nose, and damn it his head was _hard_! For the next few minutes she had a slight nosebleed that Caelan of course blew out of proportion. Although perhaps he was panicking because he might suddenly decide that Valkyrie was on the menu for that day and eat her. At this she decided that dying in the middle of a cave would suck.

"Hey, Caelan?" Valkyrie decided at another point of their decent. He grunted as a reply, evidently he was still irritated at either his inability to smell blood without practically drooling or Valkyrie's 'bleeding issue' as they jokingly called it when Caelan was in one of his better moods. "You're really old and wise and stuff."

At this he snorted, "Not really."

"You know reflections?"

"You're not going to ask me if I have one, are you? Because I do."

"What? No, you're just being self-conscious again. I meant the charm. If you place this symbol on a mirror a clone of you comes out. I just wanted to know… if you die do they vanish?"

At this Caelan turned to face her and frowned. "Why do you want to know? You're not going to die down here, there's no chance of it."

"Well, I should hope not. I was just curious." She shrugged, trying to get him to focus on the path ahead once more. "Hey, about vampires having no reflection…"

"What about it?"

"Can you make the reflection-clones?"

"No. That's where the 'vampires have no reflections' thing came from in the first place. Planning to make a clone of me?"

"An army of vampires would be pretty useful."

They hadn't been speaking loudly or often, but at that moment all conversation halted as a pair of footsteps rang around the cave. There were only a few times Valkyrie could think of that Caelan had looked so hopelessly scared, one such when Skulduggery and her had forced him to take them to Moloch and the elder vampire had ended up attacking him. After that event she was surprised that he'd agreed to meet up again at later dates, although a while later at St Anne's park, a couple of minutes into the conversation and it was painfully obvious why he'd agreed to it.

After a few seconds of thought he motioned to move backwards, and so they retreated silently until they reached a small indent in the rock, enough for just one person to hide in if they crouched. Without even running anything past her Valkyrie was pushed into it and Caelan stood before her. The footsteps got closer and then, just visible between his legs, she could see a regal looking man move up the path before stopping completely.

"What on _earth_ do you think you're doing here?" The mans voice was laced with anger and he seemed to hiss.

Caelan's body language seemed to change, shifting from scared and near submissive to arrogant. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because filth like you shouldn't be here."

"I'm a vampire, I have as much right as you do to be here."

"You say that as if you're worth something. What an amusing notion. Try that again and you'll be dealt with as you should have been."

"You're old, you couldn't stand a chance against me." The younger vampire boasted and Valkyrie wished he'd shut up. She knew as well as anyone that the older the vampire the stronger, and Caelan was practically a toddler compared to most other vampires. "I killed another vampire before I was a year old, you couldn't have done that in your-" But his sentence was interrupted by a fist slamming into his abdomen. In a split second decision Caelan leapt away from the gap towards the exit in what looked like running away but was in fact was a tactic to draw attention away from Valkyrie. Yet the elder vampire was quicker than him and soon caught up, shoved him to the ground and placed a foot on the young vampires chest.

"I said: what on _earth_ are _you_ doing _here_ you insolent little _pup_." Each rise in volume was accompanied with a kick smashing down onto his ribs, although Valkyrie didn't know this, all she could hear was Caelan's wincing and the sound of shoe meeting flesh and bone. She longed to leap to his rescue but also knew that it would only make matters worse and forced herself to stay crouched, listening to her vampire, _her vampire_ getting beaten until he bled. A wet sounding cough was the last noise she heard from Caelan before a voice rang, "As for you human, don't think I didn't notice your heart beat. The only reason you're alive is because you associated with that_freak_. You'll be tainted."

Waiting until the footsteps were out of earshot Valkyrie sat, getting tenser with every second that passed. Other than the elder vampire there was no noise, meaning best-case scenario Caelan was in too much pain to speak. Worst-case was that he was dead, but she'd seen him thrown down from the top story flat of a tall apartment block and make a full recovery, so a beating wouldn't kill him… she hoped. Finally silence fell upon her like a thick blanket, seeming to smother her and make all actions clumsy… or was that from worry for her companion?

Dashing over to his side, she refused to look at him as she hoisted him in a fireman's lift and began the long walk back outside. Valkyrie was in fact stronger that she looked and her vampire was particularly weedy for a male and thus easier than she'd expected to carry, yet despite this she needed to stop every so often for breaks. Her suspicions about the city being filled with vampires were confirmed though, making it equally dangerous for both of them. If all vampires acted around Caelan like the previous had then he was in for a lot of pain. Fair enough, he had killed another member of his race but by the sound of it that particular deed had been committed near a hundred years ago! She sure as hell hoped he'd changed, but it seems the other vampires didn't feel the same. And as for Valkyrie, well, they all wanted to eat her. Simple as.

By the time she'd reached the mouth of the cave it was six 'o' clock and the first traces of sunrise began to show. Not being stupid she soon understood that all the vampires in the cave would be able to smell the blood that was draining from her companion with each jerking step and come looking for a meal once transformed. Cursing under her breath, she set out for a safe place for her vampire. There were a number of small caverns dotted across the ground that would certainly be large enough to stay in but would make them as susceptible to attack as a worm speared on a fishing hook. No, something higher up would be needed.

Narrowing her eyes against the harsh light reflecting off the cliff-face, she studied it for a large fissure. It would be near impossible for such luck, but damn would it be safe! The wall had few enough proper handholds that a vampire wouldn't bother going for such a difficult meal and if high enough it wouldn't be able to jump up and reach the opening… okay the luck would have to be ridiculous, but she _had_ just saved someone's butt and a_vampire_ none the less. Surely that was worth some good karma points, right? _Right_?

And as luck would have it she spotted one. Muttering a 'thanks' to dumb luck she then spent a few minutes figuring out how to get up. Using her air elemental powers on their own wouldn't be enough due to their combined weight… but maybe necromancy? Valkyrie couldn't effectively lie to herself; even she was creeped out and a little disturbed at how good she was getting at her necromancy. It almost felt like she was betraying her elemental magic, which was silly since obviously magic didn't have feelings thus couldn't be insulted by choosing not to use it as much as you used to, but the feeling wouldn't budge. The rush of power she got when using necromancy, however, was not to be ignored. In the end, as with many other things, she chose to stuff the thoughts to the back of her head to mull over later.

Necromancy infused with elemental magic gave them the exact lift needed and she raised them fifteen metres into the air breaking only a little sweat (which she'd deny later). Okay, so the cave was fairly small and after Caelan had been spread out there was about a metre gap to the wall either side of him, and if she stood completely straight Valkyrie hit her head (in the tallest part of the cave) but other than that it was dry, cool and safe. And then, taking a deep breath, Valkyrie knelt beside the vampire and began to assess his wounds.

Most of the damage was bruises; it seemed that vampires attacking other vampires resulted in injuries much the same as those a human would get after a good beating. His chest was laced with a mural of bruises, all purpling beautifully. A few of the kicks had broken the skin and blood wept out of these, although it seemed this was due to an unusually sharp edge to the mans shoes, but the most blood was dribbling down his skin from where he'd coughed it up, although what the man had done to achieve this she wasn't sure. And to top it all off the burn on his face still hadn't faded (he'd taken the bandage off after insisting it looked stupid… well it did).

Having picked up his rucksack from where it had fallen, she rummaged through it for an insight on how to help him. Vampires needed blood. There was blood in this bag. But she couldn't find the blood. Not good. She was aware of an enchantment in his bag that allowed it to hold more than it would usually, but there was so much junk in it she couldn't find what she needed… although perhaps needed was an overstatement… no. That thought did _not_ just pass her mind. There was no way in _hell_ she was doing that, so she continued to rummage, and to her immense relief eventually found where he kept his blood in a small inside pocket. Snipping a triangle off the end with her penknife she held the cool bag of liquid and wondered how best to give it to him. Simply pouring it into his mouth wouldn't do, he could choke… she'd need to wake him if possible.

"Hey, wake up." She lightly slapped his cheek and upon receiving no response slapped him again but harder. "Hey! Caelan! Watch-boy! Vampire!"

He eventually stirred, massaging his throat as he sat up. Then on noticing the bag she held in her hand asked, "Is that for me?"

Raising an eyebrow, she replied, "Well it's not going to be for me is it?"

"I hoped not."

Valkyrie didn't waste time asking the obvious 'are you okay' since he obviously wasn't, she just handed him the bag and watched as he downed it in one go. He grimaced slightly when he was done, something Valkyrie was curious about. "Do you not like it?"

"Hmm?"

"The blood."

"It's cold." He replied as if it explained all. It didn't.

"Well sorry for not warming it up." She said sarcastically.

"I… no, I didn't mean it like that. It has to be kept cool so it doesn't go off, but it's better warm… much better." He explained somewhat hastily. Repulsed by his answer she chose to stare out the cave to avoid looking at him. "Uh… where are we?"

"You passed out after that? I've had worse and remained conscious." She snorted, not answering the question.

"He did kick me in the head."

"Oh… I guess that would do it. We're in a cave, a little way off from the entrance to the city." At this he sat up suddenly then winced as the bruises protested. "Don't worry, we're quite far off the ground. They'd have to be able to fly to get up here, and as far as I know the only humanoids that can fly are elementals."

He sighed, lying back down in relief.

"Do we have enough time to go back in?" She asked after a lengthy silence that oddly enough didn't feel uncomfortable in the least.

"No. They'll be beginning to leave the cave. We were unlucky with that… other vampire." He muttered.

"Unlucky is certainly one word for it." Valkyrie crossed her legs beneath her, shifting about from side to side on the uncomfortable rocky floor. "Do you feel a bit better now?"

"It's only been five minutes…"

"That's why I said 'a bit'." The light coming in from outside lit her face in a strange fashion, making her look almost alien like in appearance with dark shadows under her eyes and brow. "So." She slid into the next line of conversation carefully, understanding that an irritated vampire would be a bad idea in such a confined space. "You killed another vampire-"

He turned to shoot her a look containing such fury that his eyes turned a whole new league of dark, but she wasn't going to stop prying. She was Valkyrie Cain; like hell was she going to be scared into submission! "Don't."

"Don't I deserve to know why you did it? I want to know why every other vampire seems to want to beat you up." She carried on, unperturbed by how his gaze was darkening by the second. "You said ages ago that other vampires paid you for doing it… that you weren't the only one who wanted him dead."

"Vampires kill each other a lot more often than you'd believe, but not directly. Magician assassins are often used. But if one does kill another directly then they'll usually be killed in turn. Indirectly of course." He then stopped and licked his lips. "They're too unstable, volatile. We only have one rule, and that's not to kill each other. If one of us can't even follow that, imagine how they'll be with… well anything else."

Valkyrie frowned, "Then why are you still…"

"Alive?" He smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes that were still as dark as ever, making him appear more predator-like than human. "I killed someone when I was less than six weeks infected. They decided I wasn't wholly responsible for my actions and let me off. And although most people didn't agree with the decision they can't do anything about it. If I die it'll appear suspicious, so no one's so far tried to directly kill me… other than Moloch and Dusk, but even then I don't think they were trying too hard."

"Ah." She said, giving him a pause for breath. Caelan didn't like to speak too much, she knew this, but she wasn't going to let him stop completely, she wanted to know what the vampire had done to get the punishment he got. "So, who was it you killed?"

He turned, shot her a deeply sarcastic look and ended the conversation with, "The tooth fairy." Until he was in a better mood she wasn't going to get any answers. Well, fine. She could wait. "Are you using any magic?"

"No. Why?"

Easing himself into a sitting position, Caelan turned towards a dark part of the cave and shut his eyes. "Could you light that area of the cave up?"

"What's the magic word?" She replied in a sugary sweet tone.

"I can't use magic… besides, shouldn't you know that already?" Caelan said, baffled at her question. He was under the correct impression that elementals didn't need to say words to control their magic.

The girl sighed, "No, it's something people say when they're waiting for the other person to say 'please' in their question."

"Oh. Please?"

"Better." And with a smirk a small orb of fire appeared in her palm, immediately lighting up the cave. "Wait. Won't this attract the other vampires?"

"Uh…" He paused for a second, and then added, "We should be safe enough."

Then, walking over to the wall he inspected it closely before lightly tapping one of the smaller rocks it was made up of and it just fell apart. He turned with a smug smile to look at her.

Valkyrie gaped for a second, "Wow. Uh, how long did you suspect that was there?"

"I think… this may have been the path I used to escape from here last time…"

"And you didn't remember?"

"Well, last time I used it was a hundred years ago…" He shrugged.

"You do realise that every time you mention that I get this shudder of revulsion when I remember how old you are, right?"

"And what is it you want me to do about it? If you could recommend an effective anti-aging cream I'd be more than happy to try it." He replied, busy peering down the corridor. "Ah, seems you're rubbing off on me."

Valkyrie chuckled, "You wish. I'd never make such a rubbish joke." Caelan raised an eyebrow, prompting her to say, "What?"

"Not even when you were six?"

"I was the essence of humour and irony ever since I was able to speak. And before then I just looked at people and it was enough for them to bust into uncontrollable laughter at my magnificent wit."

"Of course." He said with no suggestion that he believed her in the slightest.

The passage, as all were, was narrow, very long and made so that they had to crouch the entire way. It probably would have been easier to crawl on all fours, but Valkyrie wasn't about to sink that low; very undignified (Caelan was quick to point out how she looked equally stupid shuffling along crouched). But of course by the time the light from the entrance to the cave had left she was forced to guess the way ahead and since no one could see her, sunk to crawling. To be frank with herself, she was fairly certain that the only reason she hadn't wanted to look stupid in front of him was the oestrogen running through her veins. '_Note to female hormones: shut up_.'

Light suddenly approached from the corner, stinging their eyes accustomed to the dark as they neared the exit. The path they'd taken had let them out at the edge of a residential zone, and as soon as they stepped out of it she turned to look at the tunnel once more but it was no longer visible.

"It would be a pretty rubbish escape route if everyone could see it." Caelan said in response to her questioning looks.

"Yes. But if someone needs to get out they won't be able to see it. I think that makes it more rubbish." At this he remained silent. "So, any ideas?"

"It won't be in a house or anywhere near where vampires live. The magic coming off it would drive them mad."

"Okay, that's a start. How are you bruises?" She asked, but after receiving no response added, "By the look of things it was your ego that was bruised worst… I can't believe I just said that…"

"Getting a bit rusty?" He grinned then took his hat off and fiddled with his hair. "The safest place for us to start looking would be at nine in the morning I'd say. I'm guessing you figured out this place is filled with vampires?"

"Well I don't want to _boast_ or anything… also won't it be better if you stay covered up? They'll recognise you."

"Ah… yes. You get kinda used to not having to worry about people trying to beat you within an inch of your life, you know?"

"I can imagine. Hey, what?" Caelan's coat was suddenly dumped unceremoniously on her shoulders. She shot him a questioning look, one he didn't reply to until he'd finished pulling his other hood up over his face. "What's with the gangster look anyway?"

He gave her a mock-hurt expression, "Don't you like it?"

"No." She replied bluntly.

"Tough. Anyway, put my coat on, it should mask your scent… a bit. You smell very human like."

"I should hope so really. And where is it we're going then?"

"My house."

As it turned out Caelan wasn't joking so Valkyrie was rather shocked after they appeared out in front of a smallish house set apart from the others by a wide margin. Oddly enough the network of back alleys they'd taken to get there had grass rather than concrete as a pavement and even weirder they didn't meet a single vampire. "Most vampires are scared of me." He offered as explanation, "Only a few actually try to injure me."

"How few is few?"

"About two hundred or so."

Everything inside the house was covered in a hugely thick layer of dust that was explained by 'not living here for a few decades'. Just opening the door sent great gusts of it up making her cough and create a barrier of air around herself. "Ugh."

"It'll settle."

* * *

><p>The next morning they set off at the aforementioned time towards the city centre where the ridiculously large tree stood, its boughs heavy with pomegranates that looked like dew-dropped orbs of blood. What she hadn't previously noticed was the fountain that lay beneath the tree, and at the top seemingly balanced on top of the upward most jet a glass orb and in the centre a nearly indistinguishable green gem.<p>

Valkyrie declared, "Well. That was surprisingly anti-climatic."

"Try getting it then." Caelan suggested, and so she walked towards the fountain, not seeing the smirk.

A faint nagging feeling sat on the edge of her mind, and the closer she got the stronger. By the time she was stood on the rim her mind whispered, '_Why couldn't he get it? It'll look far less suspicious than if a human did_.'

She was in the water now, '_Is he suggesting that women should do all the work? He is from the Victorian times… who's he to order me about anyway_!' Almost up to the first dish collecting the water, '_Well maybe I shouldn't get it then! That would show him not to order me about, bloody vampire_.' And in the end she waded right back out again towards the vampire and as if a spell was released she turned back and tried for a second time. The result was the same.

At Caelan's increasingly wide grin she snarled, "Damn it. I hate it when people let me make an idiot of my self."

* * *

><p><strong>This was more Tanith's chapter, which is why, like, nothing happens to Valkyrie and Caelan…<strong>

**And on that note, 'Death Bringer'! Not wanting to spoil it for people, but I'm half way through so far, and bloody hell, what on _earth_**** happened to Caelan? I understand Derek Landy was trying to make fun of 'Twilight', but really? I don't know if other people saw it this way, but I felt that from reading the other books I don't think Caelan would act that way at all and Valkyrie's pretty odd too, but I'm loving the rest of the plot… so I'm going to be incredibly mature and say for this fiction, 'death bringer' does not exist. None of those events will correspond with this one and Caelan will be more kickass, although that will be easy compared to him in death bringer… tl;dr i iz not a happy bunneh**

**In other news I was feeling really demotivated with this and fanfiction in general after reading so many rubbish fanfics on here, but reading some of the older books bought me back up again… and then 'death bringer' got me thinking 'why am I writing this? I should be writing original fiction! Hardly anyone reads this anyway!' But, I am resolved to finish this as nothing irritates me more than a story abandoned half way through…**

**Thanks to all who review, and as always, reviews really keep me going. They're like petrol to a fire. It'll burn fine without it but it really gives it an extra powzang! Wow, for a writer I'm terrible at metaphors!**

**Thanks for reading! ^^**


	12. Further Preparations

Thus, the next day was spent planning how to get to the gem. Was there a means to turn off the magic so to speak? And if there was, how? Would one say a counter spell… although considering magicians do not use words to control magic anyway that would not really work. Caelan's minimal reading material consisted mainly of ancient, first print Asimov and Frank Herbert novels, which although were a great read were not much help when it came to obtaining the fragments. And even though it probably wouldn't have been very helpful, there was no internet connection down in the cave, let alone a computer. No helpful books, no public library and they pretty much couldn't leave the house in fear of being killed. They were off to a great start…

The day after that was also spent pointlessly trying to figure out a way to get to the gem. The only experience Valkyrie had with such an enchantment before was the book of names and although she knew her true name it was not through the book that she had found it out.

"Caelan?" she asked on the second day, prodding him awake as he had fallen asleep with the first 'Dune' novel on his face. "Are you even going to do any work?"

"There isn't much to do really. We exhausted our materials within ten minutes." he replied, rubbing his jaw and finding a fine layer of stubble.

"That wasn't even what I was going to ask you. Hang on." she frowned for a few seconds, trying to remember what it had been she wanted to ask. "That was it! You knew that I wouldn't be able to get near the fountain… why was that?"

"When I was very young, before I killed the vampire, I was dared to climb to the top by some other newly made vampires." he shifted on his chair, slightly uncomfortable. Valkyrie found it weird to think that he was once the same as her, newly introduced to the world of magic and quite probably in awe of everything. Including magic fountains that prevented people from climbing to the top. In fact, as nasty as it sounded in her head, it was strange to think that at some point in time Caelan did have loads of friends. But of course, when he wasn't being bitter and moody (or lovey-dovey) he was a nice person, slightly witty like her to boot and when he wanted to could easily turn on the charm, made easier by the fact that his face was _very_ easy on the eyes. It wasn't impossible to think that he would have been… popular even. But then why had he thrown it all away? "No."

"What? I didn't say anything."

"You have that look that means you're going to ask me something." He explained.

"It could have been anything though! Like, I don't know, where's the bathroom." she fought pouting in irritation.

"Yeah," he smirked, "But you weren't going to ask me that were you?"

"Well, no, but that's beside the point. I was going to ask you if we left Gordon in the car. He's pretty much a hundred books in one echo-stone." This was kind of a lie. She _did_ want to know where they'd left Gordon, but she really wanted to know why he had killed another vampire.

The vampire looked amused and horrified at the same time… somehow. "Do you really think _I'd_ bring him?"

"Fair point… I just can't remember if I brought him or not…"

"Just on the off chance that you need your long dead uncle for something."

"Yeah. You know how it is." she said while wandering off to find her bag. To her surprise she found that she had indeed packed him, but only the stone it appeared. Caelan, oddly enough, did not look as pleased as she did that she'd remembered him, but she wasn't about to ask why that was. He moped quite a bit, so if she asked him what was up every single time… well, she'd get a sore throat, let's leave it at that.

The echo-stone now sat nestled in her cupped palms, giving off a faint glow. She brought it back over to the sofa, sat down again next to the vampire and placed the stone in the centre of the coffee table. Casting a quick look to Caelan, then to the stone and then to Caelan again she sighed, "Uh… knowing how my uncle is… could you make yourself a bit more presentable please?"

"Only because you asked." he groaned as he sat up and got off the sofa. "I assume this is because of the stubble?"

She made an oddly fond looking smile, "Quite possibly. I'm not bothered, but Gordon will be. He'd probably call you a bum who doesn't own a razor or something."

"Whatever you wish, my lady." he snorted before bowing deeply, making them both laugh. This noise caused the echo-stone to activate and a haughty looking Gordon appeared.

"Ah. It appears someone doesn't own a razor." he sniffed. "Stephanie, you could at least have picked a vampire who knows how to shave."

"Told you so." she muttered quiet enough so that Caelan could hear but Gordon could not. The vampire bit his cheek to prevent himself from laughing.

"Where are we now?" her uncle asked.

"Isla de la Infección." Caelan answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"_No_," Gordon's eyes widened in excitement as he looked around him. "Impossible. Stephanie would have been eaten by now if that were the case."

"You think I'd let someone eat her?" the vampire said with a small smirk. "They'd have to get through me first."

With a carefully raised eyebrow, Valkyrie commented, "You make me sound like a hotdog or a weak little girlie. I'm not sure which is worse to be honest."

"Anyway, I refuse to talk any further until you've gotten rid of that ridiculous looking stubble." her uncle said in a final tone and tried unsuccessfully to look 'hard'. Sure enough, her vampire rummaged around in his bag for a razor before ambling off to the bathroom to shave.

Shooting her uncle a stern look, she whispered, "That was a bit harsh."

"You've not exactly been the fairy godmother to him either, Steph."

"Fair point." she shrugged.

"So. I assume this isn't just for a friendly chat?" Gordon asked.

"Well. I should really wait for Caelan to be done… but…" Valkyrie pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do and how to phrase it, and then chose to stare pointedly out of the window instead. Night time was approaching, meaning the ambient light that filled the cavern would gradually fade away leaving only the neon signs and phosphorescent algae to light the area. After the first night they had spent, Valkyrie was confused to discover that through some very complex piece of magic, somehow vampires that stayed in Isla would not morph into their true forms at night, and not only that, but they would look like they used to before they were bitten. This last piece of information was found out by Valkyrie waking to find an attractive, young Spanish man in the room. Obviously, she promptly tried to immobilise him in case he was an enemy, and of course it was just Caelan, but _damn_ did he wear the 'alive' look well! If she thought he looked good before… well that was nothing. For the rest of their stay in the Isla she found herself sneaking glances at him like some stupid girl with a crush. And to be fair, that's exactly what it was.

Naturally she demanded why he had not told her about that particular effect (while blushing like a fool), to which he replied with 'I forgot'. Because, obviously, regaining human characteristics when you are a vampire is something you would forget easily? Needless to say Valkyrie had her suspicions that he had not told her on purpose to watch her squirm with embarrassment. Bloody oestrogen.

"Fine." she frowned, deciding to tell Gordon simply because Caelan had not told her about the Isla's side effects on vampires, also she was in a bad mood. "So. Do you know of a way to negate the magic that stops you going up to things.

She shot him a stern look to which he said, "I'm sorry? That's very vague. You'll have to be more specific, Stephanie."

"Okay. Uh, so. You know the book of names?" A slightly dark look passed over Gordon's face but he nodded nonetheless. "Good. You know the magic that prevents people from reading it?" Another nod. "How do you get past that?"

"You can't. That's the point."

Valkyrie glowered out the window once more. A small crowd of vampires travelled to the square in the distance decked in colourful clothes and laughing loudly. It was at that part of town that the 'bars' were. Having only seen them from afar Valkyrie was not sure what they sold. However she could guess. Blood. She made a mental note to ask Caelan when he returned.

And at that very second he walked back into the room, clean-shaven, hair slicked back and presentable. Although Valkyrie found herself wishing that he would wear his hair slightly ruffled more often. As he sat down he asked Gordon (for he had been able to hear their conversation from the bathroom), "And you're certain there's no way to negate the magic?"

"Yes. There's no way… unless you can find a loophole or something similar. The magic used for complete repulsion is very complicated, so often such things are made. And, of course, people skip parts that they feel aren't needed."

"How long does it take to create a repulsion spell then?" Valkyrie demanded, curious at just what this piece of magic took.

"On average, about ten years if one performs it in its complete form. If you miss certain parts off you can cut it down to four years while having it still function. I'm guessing that if someone made one in here it should have plenty of loopholes on account of all the distractions that a city filled with vampires would provide."

"So how to figure out the loopholes?" Valkyrie realised that they would need to preserve the echo-stone's charge so took care to ask him as much as they could in the shortest way possible

"Stephanie," her uncle smiled, "What can vampires do and not do? You have a prime example there so ask him." And with that he zipped out of existence.

With a sigh Caelan got up once more to close the curtains and switch the lights on. The young necromancer pulled her legs up to rest on the edge of the sofa and rested her chin on her knees and then reconsidered when her insides twisted in pain.

"Someone's looking like they're about to give up." Caelan commented.

"And someone looks like they need to have their injection right now." Valkyrie shot back when she noticed the hunger beginning to form in his eyes. "Here, take mine. You can put more formula in it when you're done." She pulled her jab out of her jeans pocket and chucked it at him. "I don't want to take any chances; it's already pretty late."

At first she felt her insides squirm a little at the sight of the hollow needle disappearing into his flesh and wondered how on earth that needle even managed to penetrate the tough skin of a vampire… At any rate, she bit the inside of her cheek and forced herself to watch. Needles had never really been her strong point, but she tolerated them, and, besides, if she were planning on sticking around the vampire for any period of time then she would have to accept the fact that she would be seeing a lot more of them.

Deep inside her abdomen something twitched and twisted, making her grit her teeth. Cramps. She had been having them all day and knew that it meant she had be getting her periods pretty soon. '_Thank you very much, body. Thank you for deciding to have my periods in the middle of a city filled with bloody vampires_.' Really, what she needed was some paracetamol and a hot water bottle, and after a brief search she found the first. No matter what pain she experienced, teeth falling out, jagged cuts, broken bones… there really was something else about a serious bout of the cramp. Really, she had hoped this entire fiasco would be over with my now and they had only found one piece! Snorting, she spread herself out over the sofa, feet at one end and head at the other since Caelan was no longer sat on it.

"Hm?" he made a confused noise at the sight of her once he'd pulled the jab out. "Someone looks comfortable."

"I may look it, but I'm really not." she sighed, staring at the ceiling. "The way we're sat looks like I'm at a psychologists."

"And how do you feel about that?" Caelan asked, earning him a carefully raised eyebrow and a smirk from the girl on the sofa. "I see. And would you say that this implicated your later life?"

"Later life as in, when I throw my shoe at you?" She teased.

"Quite possibly."

"Right." she said, sitting up again then wincing at the cramp. "Swap seats. I need to interrogate you."

"Why, can I ask?" Yet he lay down on the sofa nonetheless.

"To find a loop hole in the repulsion spell… thing. If I were Dayo, who I assume cast the spell, then I sure as hell wouldn't spend my time ticking out all the boxes. I'd try to leave gaps in it which I knew wouldn't matter."

"And how are we going to find those out?"

"Easy." she smiled in a slightly patronising way. "We use our_ noggins_." And tapped the side of her head in the same fashion she would use with a very small child. "So. We couldn't just walk up to it. Obviously you'd keep that part. You probably wouldn't be able to throw things at it to knock it down; that would be too easy. Although… hang on. Vampires can't use magic can they?"

With slight hesitation he replied, "No."

However, of course, Valkyrie had noticed the hesitation, and although she'd usually ignore it, something told her to follow it through. "Not… not _ever_?"

"That's generally what 'no' means."

"Caelan, a two year old would have picked up on that hesitation."

That dark look he was so superb at returned as he glared at her, and as always she refused to back down, returning his glare with her raised eyebrow as if he were a particularly stubborn dog that just would not sit. And as usual Valkyrie got her way, probably helped by how she was looking down at him.

"Listen, if I didn't… well you know… I really shouldn't be telling you this. No… wait, no I'm not!" Caelan stammered.

Upon deciding that a different approach would be needed to get the information out of him, Valkyrie pouted. "Damn. That would have been really useful." She then looked towards the centre off the coffee table and closed her eyes, trying her best not to snort as she pulled her best forlorn face. "I'll have to find another way to find the fragment then."

"Because that's going to work." the vampire said. Valkyrie smirked inwardly, that was exactly what she had wanted him to say at that.

"Well what do you want me to do? This could be important and if you won't tell me… I have no idea how to get you to tell me it!" she cried, flinging her arms out and then remembered to keep her voice down. The vampires prowling outside could swarm very easily once they learned of her presence. Sighing, she turned to him and hissed, "What do you want in return for this information?"

"Nothing. I'm not telling you."

"Please, I can tell it has something to do with vampires having magic." she said near casually with an easy flick of the wrist, and then in a slightly more sympathetic tone, "Come on. _Please_. How often to you hear me say please anyway?"

Caelan gave her a slightly lopsided grin that sent a small fire burning in her heart, which of course he could see. Bloody human form. "Ironically, not a lot considering you're so high and mighty with me around manners."

She frowned. "That's because your manners are rubbish. It's like wolves raised you or something. Anyway, we're losing focus. I need to know about this. It's important!"

"How many times? I'm not telling you." he insisted, but the resolve shown on his face was lessening.

"Caelan! _Please_!"

"No!"

"_Why not_?"

"_Because_!"

"Ugh, you sound like my Dad! Anyway, that's not even a reason!" she said, by which point they were both stood up glaring at each other. If one were to go by body language alone, they would probably guess that they were both as furious as each other. One at how the he was being a stubborn idiot, the other at how she were a nosey, stupid little girl.

While she did not want to resort to bribing him with affection (she was a woman, not an object) frankly, there was not a lot more she could do at that moment. Besides, he was not exactly ugly, and as much as she could try to deny it, she had a thing for him. It would not be a difficult task for her to undertake, it would just be the repercussions that would be a bother. '_The knife is in your hand, Valkyrie, remember to use it_. _Well… the metaphorical one that is_.'

Shaking slightly, she reached out her hand and with the tips of the fingers, traced the side of his face, finally drawing her fingers to a stop at his lips. She felt the slight shiver, how he took in a gasping breath. It was an odd thought, how she had affected him so that he felt it necessary to _breathe_. Even Valkyrie found herself inhaling sharply as he ducked down and kissed her on the neck.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you." He whispered, and as if they had a will of their own her arms encircled his neck (seriously, what were they thinking?), pulling him closer than either of them expected, his face deep into her hair, which to be fair did not smell amazing due the gap in between her last bath. But, damn, he didn't even care because somehow she pulled his lips towards hers and she _kissed_ _him_ _on her own_ without needing blackmail or _anything_. At first he was more shocked than anything, letting Valkyrie kiss him without even responding, but instinct kicked in and he pulled her closer, arms wrapping around her waist, hands running up and down her back.

And then she ruined it by pulling back and whispering in his ear, "Please?" Of course, Valkyrie could well have been referring to anything. One word was a rather vague sentence, but both knew what she meant.

'_Well, she wasn't really just going to kiss me out of her own choice was she_?' he thought. "Did you seriously just try to seduce information out of me?"

"Obviously." she frowned, looked as if she wanted to add something then turned to hide her extensive blush. "Didn't work though."

"I _am_ a hundred years old. Not all vampires are as innocent and virginal as Edward Cullen."

"Wait… are you trying to tell me people that tried that on you before?"

"People _have_ had a century to get it out of me, and so far nothing. I doubt you'll achieve anything in a few minutes." he smirked but nonetheless felt a little guilty. In truth only two girls had tried it on him, and obviously neither got anything out of him. Also one man who needless to say left him more than a little disturbed (Caelan, being straight, had shoved him off as fast as humanely possible and ran). In a way he was taunting her, hoping she would try again. He certainly would not be complaining if she did.

"What is it you want?" she asked, exasperated. It was almost as if she could sense that this would be important later on. But then looking at him stood across from her with a carefully blank expression that was at odds with his ruffled hair, and _god_ he looked good… well. But then the image of Fletcher popped into her head as the good side of her whispered to her thoroughly tempted mind, '_No, you can't do this! Article one: you already have a boyfriend. Article two: _that_ is a vampire. Article three: he's about a_ hundred_ years too old for you. And article four: the moment you kiss him you will feel terrible. And how will Fletcher feel? It's practically like kicking a puppy_!'

'_What Fletcher doesn't know won't hurt him_.' She thought. Caelan looked at her oddly, as if wondering what on earth was going on in her head as she mentally debated with herself. God, she wanted to kiss him again. _'Think of the god-damn puppy, Val_!'.

"Stuff this." She muttered.

So she all but lunged at him and they kissed again, lips crushed against each other's and neither particularly caring where the others hands roamed. For perhaps a millisecond she wondered 'should I really be doing this?' but it was soon forgotten as the vampire's hands settled low on her hips, making Valkyrie's abdominal muscles tense up, her stomach filling with an odd fluttering sensation. Had it ever felt like this when she kissed Fletcher? Maybe the first time… damn, she couldn't even think straight with Caelan's mouth at her neck- oh hell no!

"Hey!" She pushed his face away with one hand as quick as possible.

"What?" Looking confused and slightly flushed he fixed her with a dark eyed look. "Oh, I wasn't trying to bite you. I was just… you know."

"Great, now it's awkward. Sorry." she grunted, banishing the picture of a hurt Fletcher with puppy-dog eyes from her mind to the best of her abilities.

"I can fix that." he offered and tugged her closer once more. Valkyrie found herself briefly wondering what would happen if she cut her tongue on his teeth, but then her mind was soon distracted by other matters.

* * *

><p>Isla de la Infección's light did not manage to enter the room, meaning that when Valkyrie awoke she had absolutely no idea of the time. The lights were all off and as for her watch… she had no idea where <em>that<em> was. It could be in Italy for all she knew. A small orb of fire was summoned into her palm, and yawning she realised that not only was her watch on the table where she'd left it the night before, but it was almost ten 'o' clock – prime exploring Isla time. Caelan was asleep, and when he was asleep you could not wake him for the life of you. But she soon realised this was a blessing in disguise; she had not had a chance to explore the house yet, and although it was mainly empty, she was near certain that she would be able to dig out something about Caelan that she had not known previously.

The previous night had been anti-climatic, Valkyrie imagined, for Caelan. No sooner had she accepted him she looked at the clock and decided that she absolutely needed to get to bed that minute. He slunk off somewhere upstairs and Valkyrie sat on the sofa trying not to panic. Okay, so she kissed Caelan of her own will! Big deal! She often kissed her Mum and Dad before going to bed… on the cheek… In some cultures a kiss was just like a hug. Sure, Ireland was not one of those places, but did Caelan know that? Actually, considering that he had lived in Ireland two, maybe three times longer than she'd been alive, he probably did.

Three portraits lined the top of his one bookshelf. Two showing a beautiful dark-haired and eyed woman with a self-conscious smile, the other a little girl with shoulder-length black hair and a face similar to Caelan's grinning at whomever had drawn her. They'd all been drawn in painstaking detail with a pencil, each laugh line and subtle change in shading added in. Approaching them she noticed a messy scrawl of writing in the bottom corners of the drawings. It was just about legible on the second picture of the woman, which read 'Roberta', yet she couldn't make out the little girls name. Caelan's handwriting was still terrible decades later…

"So, he's an artist, huh?" a voice said casually, making Valkyrie turn speedily, a ball of fire ready in her hand to blast whomever it was that dared sneak up on her. For all she knew it could well be a vampire sneaking in. "Oh, calm down. Your paranoia is making me edgy."

"Dayo." the necromancer said in a tone that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a snarl. The ghostly apparition stood by the sofa, looking as radiant as ever while smirking a little.

"I do hope you're going to extinguish that fireball of yours. I'd hate for you to set fire to the house."

"So, what, am I asleep then?" Valkyrie asked, confused as she could have _sworn_ she'd woken up, but then again no one really had a clue what was real and not when they were dreaming.

Dayo grinned dazzlingly and nodded, her curls bobbing up and down with the rest of her head. "Now then, go wake your vampire sweetheart up before we begin. This task is notoriously hard. In fact, many would say it's near impossible."

"He's not my… never mind. Will you be waiting in here then?" Another nod from Dayo. "Good."

The stairs proved to be a bit of a challenge given how fast she was trying to take them and nearly lost her balance on the second last step. Caelan, as expected, was still asleep and to her amusement snoring. But due to her eagerness to start the next task she spent no time staring at his sleeping face and ripped the covers off him, forgetting he had a tendency to sleep only in loose fitting cut offs. When he didn't so much as flinch she frowned, remembering that there was a high chance vampires couldn't feel cold in the same way as a human. Although he certainly complained when it was too hot…

She squatted down in front of him and shook his shoulder roughly, "Hey, Caelan, wake up."

"What? This better…" He then yawned widely, giving her an excellent view of his many pointed teeth perfect for sawing through skin and muscle. "This better be good."

His sentence amused her, prompting her to tease him (rather cruelly) with, "Good as in a cure for vampirism?"

"Nah, I've gotten used to immortality." he sighed, still essentially asleep. His response annoyed her slightly; how he was constantly changing his mind about if he liked being a vampire or not.

"Wake up, you!" she all but cried, shaking him harder until he grunted and sat up, finger-combing his hair until it looked vaguely decent. "Bed hair?"

"You're not doing much better." he gave her a lazy grin that caused her to flush when she realised that not only were they very close and he topless, but that he had that look on his face that meant he was about to kiss her. Damn it all. In the few teen books that she had read, the two mains would be all awkward around each other until they kissed for the first time and then suddenly all the tension would evaporate as if by magic… Why wasn't this happening with her?

Turning quickly towards the door to avoid him she said, "Meet me downstairs ASAP," Paused, then added with a wry grin, "preferably fully dressed."

Once he'd joined her downstairs Dayo manipulated the landscapes and they were surrounded by the vast whiteness once more. The strange woman dusted her heavily bustled dress down as if worried their previous environment had contaminated it. When she'd finished she looked up at them and sighed, "Glad to be rid of that place. I _despise_ vampires." And then smiled once more, completely aware of the vampire stood in front of her trying his best not to glare at her. "And so we begin with your next task. This would be your… second task would it not?"

"Uh… don't you remember from last time?" Valkyrie asked. "You were there…"

"It's a different part of me at each site," Dayo said with a dismissive flick of her hand, "didn't I mention that last time?"

"No. You didn't." the necromancer sighed. "So what's our next task?"

The strange woman smiled widely, which was never a good thing as far as Valkyrie and Caelan were concerned. Dayo made a strange swirling motion with her hand, and suddenly a strange amulet was clasped between her fingers. A second motion and the floor turned to glass, revealing a deep chasm of dark, swirling water. "Retrieve this." It slipped from her palms and plopped into the water, sinking far quicker than it should have, and sooner than you could have said '_Damn it!_' the amulet winked out of sight.

"How deep is that, may I ask?" Valkyrie said, trying her best not to let the fear show in her voice. After the incident in the underwater lake she'd found herself with an aversion to deep water.

"Sorry?" Dayo turned to her from staring at the water with fascination. "Oh, deep. Very deep. You have as long as you can stay alive. Good luck!"

And with that the floor fell from under them, replaced with dark, dark water.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, first things first. Sorry <em>sorry<em>**** SORRY this is so _late_****! School has been pretty stressy at the moment and as a result a few weeks ago I got sick. Nothing fatal, but enough to make me feel pretty bleh about writing… but excuses aside, I should really have gotten this done, which makes everything even lamer because nothing really happens here other than terrible fluff… D:**

**On that note, the reason this isn't listed as a romance is because I cannot write it at all. Ask anyone. So if you think that was the worst thing you'd ever read please tell me so I can try better next time… or if you think it was better than the invention of sliced bread, which is cool… um I'll do whatever I did here again?**

**Also, big thanks to reviewers! Particularly to Luna Kelly who has reviewed a lot! Thank you! And on the subject of the fight scene, wow, I hadn't realised the first bit was so messed up. I've rewritten a bit of it, so I hope it's better now? And to Madame Morte on 'monster' who pointed out my grammatical errors in speech. I'm not sure if I have the time to go through each chapter and correct it all, but the ones after this will be correct at any rate. ^^**

**Finally, as I said on 'monster'. It isn't linked to this so Caelan isn't trying to murder Valkyrie in this. And next chapter I should be half way through this fiction! It'll be ending in two ways. Über dramatic or less dramatic… I'm not sure which yet, but I'm leaning towards über dramatic.**

**And thank you very much for reading! ^^**


	13. The Underground Lake

'_What does this woman have with bloody drowning people_?' Valkyrie screamed in her head. If it had been her choice she would have said it aloud, yet this would have drawn an influx of water into her lungs, and dream or no dream, she would die if this happened. Naturally, her first thoughts were for herself; when sinking rapidly there was little time for concerns on how others were doing. And so even when a pair of arms pushed her towards the surface she was more worried about how soon her face would feel air than who on earth it was beneath her.

The air on the surface felt freezing on her skin, yet not so shocking that she wasn't able to inhale a deep breath and yell, "_Why is it always water_?" For a second she was mildly surprised that it had come out at all, but soon decided who exactly was underneath her was more important. Obviously she had a fairly good idea of whom it could be: either Caelan or some creepy lake monster that had a weak spot for drowning girls… almost like a dolphin really. But as it happened it was just her companion, and it was easy to see how when a trickle of water sped down her face, travelling from her soaked hair and just by her mouth. It was freshwater, explaining the lack of allergic reaction from the vampire.

"I heard you humans like air." Caelan breathed into her ear. "Aaand, judging by your reaction, I'd say you're fine." He then smirked, pushing soaked hair back from where it had plastered across his face.

"You're doing better than last time. No 'Uugh! I can't swim! I can't swim!'… huh?" she teased, then noticed the odd fact that she could see him. "Hey, there's ambient light."

"Same kind of stuff as in Isla I'd guess. Magic."

"Well what else would it be? I've almost given up trying to use science." Valkyrie shrugged. "But, as a modern woman, I doubt I'll give up entirely."

The vampire chuckled. "Do what you want, I'm not bothered. Anyway, we should probably begin to focus on this task." A small, sad smile briefly crossed his face before disappearing as quickly as it came. Just as Dayo had said, the water was very, very deep, and despite the ambient light the bottom was not visible, nor was the amulet.

No walls could be seen, or a ceiling, just the surface of the water and the other persons wet face. Now that they were both treading water (after some tuition from Valkyrie) the water was nearly calm, only a few small ripples radiating outwards from when one of them moved. Despite knowing full well that there was no chance of seeing it they still looked for the amulet on the surface, trying to delay the inevitable. The ambient light was oddly comforting.

"So… one of us is going to have to dive down there," Valkyrie pursed her lips a little and then frowned in focus as an idea came to her. Spreading her fingers in a suggestion that she held a large globe, she slowly moved her arms down and down until the base of where the orb would be touched the surface of the water. And then she continued to move it down, pleased when the water parted where the orb was until it was completely engulfed. "There we have it. A bubble of air. And now, I have to somehow get that onto my head- crap."

Only a few seconds after the orb had made it underwater, it disappeared, the gap created filled in by a torrent of eager, rushing water. She looked less upset than disappointed by the results. In an odd form of consolation Caelan commented, "Even if you could get it into your head you'd soon run out of air. Humans need a lot of oxygen if my memory serves me correct."

She was, at first, irritated by his comment, as if she had decided that he was attempting to undermine her efforts and be all smug and 'vampires rule' like. Then it hit her he was trying to be kind without denting her ego and smiled gratefully at him. It wasn't a huge smile, but it was enough to get her point across. But that still left them at square one. She attempted the orb again several times, yet all her efforts yielded similar results.

Valkyrie swore once more, then pulled her hair back from her face tightly and hissed, "Stupid woman."

"Well, she wasn't going to let us use magic was she? That would be too easy." Caelan offered.

"So I'm guessing that's why this is one of the hardest tasks. If you're not a fish then you drown, either by diving to get it, or floating until you're too tired to carry on and sinking. Stupid, bloody woman." she concluded. While she wasn't actively shouting which, really, wouldn't have solved much, the words were still laced thickly with anger. If one was to somehow distil her words and turn it into a liquid, it would be a very noxious venom, Caelan mused. "So. Magic doesn't work, and neither of us are fish, unless you turn out to be a were-shark. We need to dive down to ridiculous lengths in order to find this amulet but we need to breathe. And I can't hold my breath for longer than about a minute at best…"

She sharply turned to look the vampire in the eye, fixing him with a gaze that despite being very calculating he found himself enjoying.

"And I suppose that technically you don't need to breathe at all…"

Caelan seeing quickly where this was going said, "You don't need to be so subtle about it. I'd do it if you asked or not."

"So you don't need to breathe? I mean, I was fairly certain you don't need to already, but I'd just like to confirm it."

"It's only when I inhale salt water that I need to breathe, and there is so little salt in this that I should be fine." He looked down once more. "I assume you'll be okay here for a while longer? You should be able to tread water for a while longer, right?"

"Yeah, although, if I'm honest with you I may just star-float for a while…" Valkyrie flopped backwards onto her back, spreading her limbs out wide. "I'm guessing that since this is a dream we can adjust it slightly…" And then looking back at the vampire, said, "Hey. Don't do anything incredibly stupid."

Unknown to her, he smiled. That was probably the closest thing he was going to get to concern from her in a while. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be back before you know it."

And with that he ducked underwater, eyes wide open, and so far able to see well. The enhanced vision he had gained once becoming a vampire was very welcome at the moment; tiny amounts of light were enough to be able to see by, often making daytime strenuous on his eyes, which was immensely annoying as he'd always rather liked daytime.

With stars, sometimes, if one looks straight at them they are nearly unnoticeable, and yet if you look just a bit to the side they suddenly appear. Cast your eyes where they are again, and they disappear once more. Caelan was finding this with the amulet. It was just within his grasp of vision, and once he let out the air in his lungs, which he was using to float, he sank fairly quickly without much effort on his part. Faster than the amulet anyway. Given that they had spent a while talking he would need to catch up with it, however once he had it he would have to swim back up again which would require a lot more energy. He was very thankful at this point that he did not need to breathe.

He must have spent a good five minutes simply sinking by now. The ambient light seemed to stay only on the surface, so after sinking for so long barely anything was visible and irked him quite a bit, being so used to perfect vision day and night. Then something that Valkyrie had said to him that he hadn't fully taken in popped into his head, how they could adjust their environments a little, it being a dream. And an idea popped into his head, although how he was going to manipulate it into reality he hadn't a clue, but still, it was worth a try if he wanted to catch up with the amulet.

What he needed was something heavy as he'd been sinking for a while now without results, and to be completely honest, he was not a very patient person. Hence why he was constantly pestering Valkyrie. Sure enough he could think of many heavy things, but no results. And then an almost flash of inspiration hit him and suddenly in his hands was a near cartoon-like anvil, infinitely heavy and pulling him down like gravity, which it was, really. Inwardly, he groaned; knowing full well that the only reason he'd thought of it was from a cartoon he had seen once. A character had somehow managed to grab hold of one in midair and fell until they met their end on the ground, squished with only a few bent looking appendages visible from beneath the anvil. Of course, it being a cartoon, they soon got up again, using only a bicycle pump to get themselves back into perfect health.

Before he knew it the chunk of metal hit something with a dull thud and he was slammed into the anvil, letting go of it near instantly from shock and forced back into reality. His body sank once more and he found himself resting on something, his eyes wide and looking upwards yet seeing only the faintest glimmer of light.

'_I suppose all lakes have a lake-floor_.' he decided upon feeling smooth grains of sand between his fingers. A strange, nagging sensation worked its way into the front of his mind as he noticed how odd his lungs felt. Heavy, almost. The tiny amount of human instinct left in him was trying to get him to cough, and it was then he realised that he'd inhaled upon hitting the bottom of the lake. Trying his lungs out, he pleasantly discovered that he was able to 'breathe' in and out the water. It was different to air, obviously, thicker and with more effort to expel but felt oddly satisfying in his vampire lungs. But that was irrelevant, right now he was having to not only find the amulet in the absolute lack of light, but also figure out how to easily get back up to the surface. Something told him that it would be harder than the trip down, and he really didn't want to make Valkyrie hang about on the surface; humans tended to be weaker when it came to endurance than vampires… although when they were hiking he was tired first much to her amusement.

Still, what he needed most was light, and if he'd been able to conjure an anvil of all things, he supposed light wasn't too much to ask for… and suddenly, light! All around him little blobs of light found themselves awakening, spilling their light out into the lake. It reminded him of the lakes filled with phosphorescent bacteria in where with every stroke of the oar you left behind a glowing trail in the water. Although, frankly, the light could have been lake slime for all he cared, as long as it lit the place he was fine with it. The light cast a strange glow similar to the kind that Dayo exuded, a pale green-blue that showed him the extent of the lake, yet since the glow seemed to follow him about and extended its light only a few metres around him, it wasn't much he saw.

'_Right_,' he began. '_time to get searching for that amulet_.'

* * *

><p>Up on the surface Valkyrie stared down into the depths of the lake, the water gently caressing her face with the small waves her movement made. At this she briefly thought of her companion, yet quickly squashed these thoughts down, refusing them access to her mind. She still hadn't sorted out all that… <em>stuff<em>, but now really was not the time. They, or rather Caelan, had an amulet to find.

Certainly, it was annoying her a little, okay a _lot_ how in this task she was essentially useless but that couldn't be helped. It was good of him to even consider coming along on this quest of sorts with her, regardless of his questionable reasons that probably involved less of Tanith's welfare and more making Valkyrie like him more. But he was there and currently sinking to the bottom of a lake to find some locket for her. So, she guessed, it was the thought that counted here. But still, it was bloody annoying that she was just floating on the surface, doing nothing while he was doing something. She was so used to being the one to save the day, kicking butts and so on that just sitting (rather, floating) there was nearly maddening. In a way, she almost wished a lake monster or something would appear just so she'd have something to do.

'_But that was not a wish or anything. Do _not_ create a lake monster, dream_.' she thought quickly, hoping her mind wouldn't actually create some beast for her to fight and quickly scanned the area beneath her just in case. Without magic or a weapon she hadn't a clue how she'd cope with fighting. General physical violence wouldn't really have much of an effect due to the water. And then, oddly enough, a small patch of light was visible from beneath her, and it _moved_.

Upon removing her head from the water she cursed, "Shit." then took a large breath, ducked underwater and tried to imagine a large pointy thing in her hand. She didn't care what it was, as long as it was sharp and effective against monsters it would do, and indeed a long stick appeared in her hands with the end sharpened to a point. She rolled her eyes when she realised it looked oddly familiar. '_That's what I get for watching Avatar before leaving_.'

So she hung there for a while, frantically searching the water below until she found the shifting blob of light once more. '_Maybe a harpoon would have been better_…' she decided hopefully, yet the stick in her hand remained very stick-like and she cursed inwardly. But nothing jumped out at her, and by now her lungs were begging for air so let herself drift upwards, quickly gulping air down before sinking again, eyes never leaving the scene beneath her.

'_Although, that could just be Caelan manipulating the dream to create ligh_-' Her mental meandering was put to a halt when something slammed into her from below, smashing the air from her lungs. But unlike when Caelan had been pushing her to the surface this had been rough and with intent to cause harm. Her legs thrashed furiously to get her to the surface and she gasped wild breaths, suppressing the panic and fear before ducking down again and brandishing her stick in what she hoped was a threatening manner. '_They don't call me Valkyrie for nothing. Well, other than that it's my name that is_.'

Valkyrie, the twelve handmaidens of Odin who escorted the dead souls of those on the battlefield to Valhalla. Course, Valkyrie herself knew a little of the meaning of the name before she chose it, but it was mainly because it sounded a hell of a lot cooler than Stephanie. Anyway, she guessed that in a way she _was_ going to be escorting someone to the underworld, or rather sending some lake monsters fabricated soul to fabricated hell.

But what was it that was hunting her? She'd originally thought that it was the blob of light beneath her, but really that was most likely her vampire companion, meaning that she couldn't see it. Shit. Sure, it was all very well saying 'use your other senses' but she couldn't really. Taste, smell and sight were definitely out of order. Hearing… possibly, and touch… well, perhaps. Her magic certainly didn't last long when she used it, but perhaps if she used it only is quick, short bursts… if she spread out awareness of sorts to the water surrounding her then perhaps she could sense the monster as it approached her.

Arms slightly out from her sides, she called the surrounding water to attention, having it ready just in case she was wanting to use it. It was strange. The water around her at her control felt like a very strange extra limb, or maybe a very large set of whiskers.

Odd. It had been about a minute now, and not only had the monster not tried another attack, but the water had not been removed from her control. Perhaps Dayo had decided that using by using her magic in that way she was wasn't breaking the rules.

There was a sudden disturbance in the water below her and slightly to the right. Something was coming, and quick. She quickly gulped down some air and sank down into the water again. More and more disturbances.

She gripped the spear tighter in her hands, feeling the whorls in the wood and- MOVE! Barely thinking she used the water to slam her to the right, the monster streaming past, barely a hairs-width from Valkyrie. Its closeness to the surface allowed the ambient light to reveal some of its form. Obviously there wasn't time to complete a complete analysis of the monster and a few sketches (when _was_ there a time to properly marvel at the odd array of creatures thrown at her anyway?) but she saw enough of it for useful information. It was worm like, possibly seven, eight metres long with a wide paddled tail, several flipper-like feet lining its body and as far as she could tell, no eyes, only a pair of long, narrow whiskers that could probably sense the electricity she was making with every reaction her body undertook. The very fact that she was alive may well have been the reason that this creature could sense where she was. Was this entire test designed merely for un-dead beings? Prejudice much.

Moving on her own would be too slow, the water resistance making her usually quick reflexes akin to a tortoises. This was going to be a fun battle…

The water molecules shifted around her, directly left. Grabbing this water that was being disturbed she used it to shift her to the side, dragging the monster forwards into the near vacuum created and spearing it in the side with her glorified pointy-stick, and yet, this did little more than anger it.

Quickly, before it set off deep, deep under water once more she planted her feet on the side of it and yanked on her spear, trying to pull it out… yet it seemed to be stuck on something. Great. And to make matters worse, the creature began to sink, but she still hadn't been able to remove her spear, and she'd be damned if she was going to go about without a weapon.

'_Come. On. Come. On_!' she cried in her head. She needed the spear and she needed air. Which to choose? After another few seconds wrestling with the spear her body decided for her and her fingers leased their grasp on the spear, legs kicking furiously as she fought her way upwards to the surface and inhaled furiously. She furiously cursed her reliance on oxygen and ducked under once more. '_Right, dream, let's see what you can do me about a harpoon_.'

* * *

><p>On the lake floor things were going more… swimmingly, if you pardon the pun. A few minutes ago Caelan had spotted something a few dozen metres in the distance that reflected the light. Something most likely shiny, and he smiled a very vampiric smile. Appropriate really, since that's what he was.<p>

His progress was slow enough getting to the shiny thing due to water resistance. The same issue Valkyrie was having a couple hundred metres above him, not that he knew that. However, something that he had not noticed before was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Water pressure. He hadn't a clue how far down he was, but it was deep at any rate. Being a vampire meant that he could withstand such pressures far better than a normal human, but only for so long. His ears were aching more with each step as the magical virus that protected him from most things got weaker. _'So I'm _not_ indestructible as a vampire? Interesting_.'

Gritting his teeth against the pain rising in his head, he all but ploughed forwards, deciding that had he been human and not underwater, sweat would be running off him in droves. But he kept moving until it was only three metres away, and yes, with a closer look it was most definitely the amulet that Dayo had dropped.

Now stood in front of it, he noticed that it was a locket on a long, silvery chain with several small gems inlaid into the metal. Strange patterns had been etched on the surface as if by a novice vandalising it. His hand reached out to scoop it up from the sand where it rested when a thought stopped him. What if it was a portal of sorts out of the dream as the fragment had been in a previous task? It would be all very well having him pass the task and escape the dream, but he didn't care either way about Tanith's fate as a remnant, only about Valkyrie's attachment towards him. And he allowed himself a smile. Her affections were improving daily. But enough of that. What use would she be to him brain dead? Somewhere inside his chest something ached at that thought as painfully as the water pressure on his ears. God, he was a lost cause.

So to be on the safe side he tugged his t-shirt off and used it to carefully pick up the amulet, making sure none of his skin was in contact with the metal. Wrapping it up neatly, he held the rolled up t-shirt in one hand and kicked off from the lake-bed. He was so far down the only light he could see from above was a faint bluish glow with two silhouettes visible. One would be Valkyrie, that he was sure of. But the other? As far as Caelan knew she hadn't had taken a very long scarf with her when they fell into the lake. Perhaps it was merely his paranoid nature, but he decided that this was not good and swam quicker, his frankly pathetic stamina mixing with adrenaline and pushing his body faster

The smaller silhouette was currently swimming to the surface, taking a breath before returning underwater, something long and thin appearing in their hands. A gun? Whatever it was they shot it straight into the large silhouette and immediately a large cloud of blood billowed out from the wound. He then noticed another such wound on its side, also leaking blood. The smaller of the two moved oddly considering they were underwater, in quick, jerky movements similar to a small bird or lizard, and Caelan decided that the attacker, Valkyrie, didn't need any help at that moment. He wasn't going to insult her skills as to rush to her aid and end up dropping the amulet in the confusion. She'd probably just end up glaring at him for being stupid.

* * *

><p>Valkyrie retracted the harpoon from the monster to shoot it again; thankful that her imagination had conjured a non-barbed harpoon that was easy to pull back out from the beast. She could just about sense another thing approaching from below, but from the estimation of sze she could give, it was probably her vampire. A small part of her asked herself again why he was <em>her<em> vampire in particular, but as always she silenced it with '_Well I have to distinguish him from the other hundreds of vampires somehow_.'

The monster cried out, for lack of better description, making the water around her vibrate from the power in its pain and anger. It made one last attempt and grabbed her leg in its jaws, adding to the other injuries it had given her. Pain coursed through her body and she exhaled, the little air in her lungs bubbling merrily towards the surface in contrast to mainly the shock she was feeling. Her leg felt like it was burning, hot as the sun. And from where she lay on the sofa in the real world her body twitched in pain as a bead of blood broke the surface of the skin.

Grabbing her harpoon she stabbed it violently in the face, her body reacting automatically out of its instinctive fear of death. Somewhere deep inside she was a little shocked at her display of intense violence, yet this was smothered by the need to live another day. Her lungs now joined the burning in her legs as they demanded air, yet this she could not deliver.

The monster was now dead, disappearing in a cloud of tiny bubbles yet the damage it had delivered remained as Valkyrie sank, black spots domineering her vision…

* * *

><p>Back in Texas, Tanith was slapping her foot down on the convertibles pedals, making it go at speeds that were illegal for good reasons. Her second meeting with the other remnants was somewhat of a success. Only somewhat as despite how well they were planning and discussing what to do, it was clear their butt-kicking days were well behind the majority of them. One of the middle-aged couples even owned a small cottage in Dorset and played bingo every Saturday for crying out loud! The best people she had to work with were the four suits, who were a hired hit squad in the magical community. They'd become… <em>docile<em>. Yuck.

Yet that was by far her least concern at the moment. After all this spouting of 'we must protect Darquesse' and 'we must use her against this new threat' she hadn't a clue where Darquesse, or rather Valkyrie, actually was. She was fairly certain that she was somewhere in Ireland, yet when she briefly checked her house all she could find was her reflection doing an incredibly mundane looking piece of homework on… Pythagoras was it? Tanith hadn't even _looked_ at something maths related in a while so she'd be damned if she knew. At least, she assumed it was her reflection. It had been getting more and more similar to Valkyrie in a very unsettling manner as of late. But frankly, as far as Tanith knew, Valkyrie would get her reflection to do all her homework, meaning this was the reflection.

Ah well, she'd tried talking to it anyway, but oddly enough this one had seemed far more, well, _reflection-like_ than it usually did. Whatever, she'd been more interested in the origin of the refection and left without another word. But in preparation got several magicians to watch over the area as subtly as possible. If Valkyrie was missing, then Skulduggery would be well aware of it. And when Skulduggery Pleasant had his metaphorical undies in a twist anyone even remotely suspicious in the area would be questioned and/or beaten up. The Tanith-remnant guessed it was due to him loosing his wife and children, and since Valkyrie was practically his adopted daughter he wouldn't even begin to accept the death of another family member.

As Tanith neared the house, her hand reached for the gear stick before remembering that the convertible was an American car, meaning it was an automatic – no gear stick. She gently let up on the speed and parked neatly on the Sanguine's enormous drive, briefly checking the fuel levels, almost out of petrol, and groaned. Sanguine would let her off for using all the petrol, or gasoline as he would say, up. But that didn't mean she was comfortable with just using all his stuff up and expecting him to pay for it. The remnant once would probably have been okay with this, but now she was finding using the Texan increasingly hard. Stupid conscience.

Anyway, ignoring the highly likely fact that she too was becoming docile, she had a theory. If Skulduggery Pleasant himself hadn't a clue where his pretty little sidekick was, then chances were no one did. Or rather no one that she knew of. Part of her human side remembered that Valkyrie had a vampire boyfriend or something, and she sure as hell had not seen him around recently, which was odd due to his tendency to 'watch over' her, or stalking in Tanith's highly professional opinion.

Before she herself had left for Texas, she'd noticed him picking someone up from in front of Valkyrie's house, yet her slightly more advanced Remnant senses told her that it wasn't Valkyrie. The magic traces were all wrong. Although they were fairly similar to the young necromancer they were not identical. Perhaps one of her cousins? The thought of Caelan deciding to stalk Carol or Crystal instead made her asphyxiate with laughter. The melancholy vampire may well have been odd, but no one was odd enough to choose Carol or Crystal over Valkyrie. One would have to be blind… and death, and quite possibly unable to smell before that would happen. The thought of it, however, was so amusing that Tanith forgot about the incident.

So, the theory went that someone had taken Valkyrie, quite possibly against her will and hidden her somewhere away from prying eyes. As far as Tanith's magic sensing abilities went, she would always track her down to be in the general vicinity of Haggard, and then nothing. It was as if someone was screwing with her. Valkyrie was definitely in Ireland, and probably in Haggard, but she was trapped.

And spoken not only as a Remnant who needed Darquesse, but also as a friend who wanted her adoptive sister back, Tanith was going to get her back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Snazzed up my author's notes!

But moving on, sorry for another late chapter! I feel even worse reading an awesome fic where they're getting out an average of 10,000 words every three days! Wow I feel lazy! But as I said before, schoolwork is eating me alive so as annoying as it is I have little time to work on writing. However as of late I've been borrowing my dads laptop to write on, so hopefully updates will be sooner now ^^

Anyway, I always have loads I want to put here while writing, and then I forget everything! Well I remember one. Caelan's appearance! It's a fairly vague affair in the books, so I'm kinda making some of it up (terrible I know!) but I've always imagined him to be the character on the big T on the first page of chapter one in the 'Mortal Coil'? Although I think that may be Dusk…So then why do I give him slicked back hair? What's that all about? Because other than that picture I imagine him as cross between Tom Hiddleston (when Loki), and Arthur in Inception. Caelan, that's a lot to live up to, man. No pressure.

Anyway, mental meandering asides, thank you very much for sticking with me this far! ^^


	14. The Golden Serpent

"I take it we all know why we're here?" The skeleton detective asked, his assembled team sat around a wide pine-wood table: Ghastly Bespoke, Fletcher Renn, Erskin Ravel and China Sorrows (whom he was certain had some ulterior motive). It wasn't exactly a huge team, but it was the best he could come up with at short notice. Also it was the summer holidays, so many people were still on their holidays. But regardless of this, despite wanting help he didn't want to alert the entire magical community of the fact that she was missing. That would not bode well for either of them.

"We all know why, Skulduggery!" Fletcher cried, whose nerves had been getting the better of him. He had been driving himself half mad from worry as of late. The combination of not seeing Caelan or Tanith around recently served only to make it worse. Although he was fairly confident that she wouldn't leave anywhere with either of them on her own accord, he decided to voice the issue. "Uh, so I haven't noticed that creepy, angsty vampire about recently. Or Tanith. Could that mean anything?"

"What vampire?" Ghastly asked, a sentiment that was shared by Erskin. "She's been getting involved with vampires behind our backs?"

"Yep. Some emo vampire that doesn't eat people." Fletcher said. Erskin who had a niece into vampire novels snorted loudly, making him inhale some of his coffee and have to spend a few seconds coughing it back up. Oddly enough, he had heard of Caelan via his niece. Amongst pre-teen magic users he'd become a sort of real life Edward Cullen. "Well, it's true."

"Caelan, I believe. I thought she was romantically involved with him for a period of time a while back, but she wasn't. I imagine the reason he no longer haunts the area is due to her… forcefully removing him." Skulduggery explained, pressing his long skeletal fingers to a spot above where his nose would once have been, as if pinching the bridge of an imaginary nose.

Fletcher snorted, "Sounds like her. But you thought she liked him?"

"Her taste in men isn't amazing, but it's not that bad." Erskin teased

"Oh, she is romantically involved with him." China's smooth voice filled the room, commanding total attention, and not only because of the unconscious love-magic lacing each word. At their expressions, she added, "Before you demand how I know, she told me."

"She told you?" China was certain that if Skulduggery had a face it would be in an expression crossed between shock and anger as the words left his mouth. She was impressed. He hadn't blown his top yet.

"Well, really, Skulduggery." China rested her pale head on perfectly manicured fingers, taking in Fletcher's face briefly before continuing, "She knew if she told you that you'd probably disembowel them both. And Fletcher, she was trying to sort it out without hurting either you or the vampire. Especially you."

The teleporter remained silent. Partially from what he had just heard, and partially from shock at China's oddly kind words. China being kind? The situation was worse than they'd previously thought.

Then China shrugged, "Besides. It's a girl thing. You don't talk about boy issues to other men."

"We're getting a little off topic here. Anyway, she wouldn't be the first magician to date a vampire. Plenty have done it. Most end it when they realise that unless their partner doesn't lock themselves up each night they could get eaten." Erskin said.

Seeming to not want the others to get their hopes up, China cut in with, "That is not a problem with them."

"How much do you know exactly, China?" Ghastly demanded.

"Enough. She came to me about a week ago and said she wanted to talk. As if I was a replacement for Tanith. But that is irrelevant. It seems he found a cure of sorts for his vampirism. Or at least a temporary one. He injects it each night and it prevents the vampire from emerging. Similar to Dusk."

"What are we going to do?" The teleporter asked, sounding probably the most serious he ever had.

Skulduggery stared at a point over their heads, and said, "First, we're going to find that vampire."

"Beating him up isn't going to solve anything. Chances are if they're both missing they've gone somewhere together. What did that note say?" Erskin Ravel sighed. The skeleton detective slid the small piece of paper across the table to where Erskin sat.

'_Dear everyone._ _I'm off to look for an anti-remnant device. I knew you'd try and stop me, so I'm not telling you. Besides, it's not like you told me when you went off in a sulk for ages Skulduggery. I'll be gone for about a month or so, and when I return I'll have it._ _Kick some butt for me. Valkyrie_.'

"Well, it sounds like her... and it looks like her writing…" The mage read it over once more. "I'm very tempted to say that she went to where ever she's gone on her own accord."

"With a vampire?" Fletcher could hardly believe it. How had she even begun to get involved with Caelan? He was a vampire for crying out loud! No more reasons against it were even needed! Although the fact that she already had a boyfriend was also, you know, fairly relevant.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. There is, after all, still the possibility that she's gone somewhere with the remnant." China said. Ghastly's expression darkened slightly.

"She won't take Tanith with her. She's looking for a way to get the remnant out. And I don't think the remnant would take well to that." Fletcher groaned, wondering how easy it would be to chuck salt water at the vampire if and when he next saw him.

Then, to everyone's surprise a knock sounded on the door of China's library, where they were meeting. Sighing, she got up, fully prepared to have to send away a simpering, love struck fool again, yet the figure at the door seemed only to have a slight glaze over his eyes before blinking, removing it.

"We're closed." China prepared to close the door, but then she recognised the face.

"Excuse me, but I've heard this is where those concerned with the missing Valkyrie Cain are meeting up?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Caelan was watching the battle between the lake monster and the necromancer.<p>

All of a sudden, the two silhouettes merged and slowly, slowly began to fall into the depths of the lake. The larger body was being pulled down by the smaller one in its jaws, the ribbon-like body of the creature spiralling out behind them. It was a credit to the vampire that upon witnessing this he did not let go of the amulet, instead shoving the amulet-t-shirt bundle into a pocket in his jeans (although why he hadn't done that earlier was anyone's guess) and began to swim out to where the two silhouettes were sinking.

How long had Valkyrie not been breathing? A minute? Two? Damn, if only he could remember how long they could go without air. That would have been a great thing to remember. Most of the things Caelan remembered from before he'd been infected were snatches and glimpses of his memories, but usually never something important. Hell, he couldn't even remember his own _name_! Let alone something as instinctive as breathing.

Should he do anything? Chances were, knowing Valkyrie's adept planning, that this could just be part of a scheme to properly finish off the monster. But having said that… the creature did look pretty dead, and he'd rather have a pissed off Valkyrie than a drowned one. And then, as if the illness that held back his memories decided to take sympathy on him, something popped into his head.

A memory came to him. It was vague, fuzzy but he could remember burning lungs, diffused sunlight on his arms and kicking his legs back to the surface to be greeted by a voice crying. '¡_Quarenta y siente segundos_!' Spanish? That was one of the better parts of his memory. At least he could still speak. Forty-seven seconds… his lungs were aching after such a short amount of time? Valkyrie had been underwater for a lot longer… he swore viscously in his mind and pushed his limbs harder. Sure, it was 'just a dream', yet Dayo may well have made it so injuries in the dream corresponded to injuries in real life. Meaning if a lake monster was using her leg as a teething ring here, when she woke up her leg would be mangled… and mangled legs bleed… and when you bleed in the city of vampires… well. That wasn't a good thing no matter how you looked at it.

The lake monsters teeth were well embedded into the flesh of her leg, but thankfully, as he far as he could see it wasn't stuck into any bone. Yet even with his enhanced strength he could not for the life of him open its mouth. Another thing he wasn't used to. As a vampire, Caelan was no stranger to being inhumanely strong. For the best part of his life he'd been able to win money in silly arm-wrestling bets. It wasn't an elegant solution, but whenever he'd left his money at home it was a handy way to get cash.

Another heave… the bone was beginning to fracture from strain… and snap! The jaws opened and he carefully slid the necromancer down and out. The creature was moray-eel like, how its jaws wouldn't open again once its prey was lodged in its mouth. Not that he'd ever seen one face to face, what with them being in the sea and all. '_Focus_.' Oddly enough the sight of Valkyrie looking so vulnerable was making his mind panic. 'Valkyrie Cain' and 'vulnerable' were not words that belonged in the same sentence without 'is not' in-between. If he was honest, he felt a little lost seeing his human so weak.

At the moment there was only one solution. Pulling the t-shirt-amulet combo from his pocket, he unwrapped it the best he could while holding Valkyrie in his other arm and held the locket in his free hand, a thin layer of fabric being the only thing separating his skin from the surface of the teleportation device. Three minutes without air.

Taking one of her hands, he interlaced his fingers over the top of hers and took hold of the amulet. He blinked and was instantly transported back to his living room.

Hurling the amulet away, he rested Valkyrie on the sofa and examined her for any signs of life. She didn't seem to be breathing, although fresh blood was pumping merrily from the wounds in her leg, so at least her heart was beating. That was something. Yet at the mere sight of blood something inside the vampire stirred, making him reach his hand out and run it down the leg, making her shudder and gasp. '_So she _is_ breathing_.'

He ran the blooded palm down in front of his mouth, tongue reaching out to lick the red liquid from his skin. As if to join hers, a deep shudder ran through him as his fingers left red streaks around his lips. God, it was delicious. Sinking to his knees in front of the wound, her condition long forgotten, he collected more of the blood on his fingers and popped them into his mouth, like licking the last traces of a milkshake from your fingers.

And then suddenly he jumped as a hand rested on his shoulder. "And here I was thinking you held some affection for the girl." Caelan did not need to turn to see the smirk on Dayo Nerezza's face; it was practically ingrained into her words. "Please, go ahead. Of course this is only a dream, and you'll need her to pass the next test, but by all means do go on."

Caelan swiped the back of his hand across his face, smudging the streaks of blood but doing little to clean it off. As if Dayo had flipped a switch within him, he was suddenly no longer interested in the blood coming from Valkyrie's leg and focused once more on getting her to breathe. Although, thankfully, it seemed she was doing that for herself now and instead chose to pull on his t-shirt once more.

Then, opening his mouth to form a reply, rather than a witty response a torrent of water poured from his mouth, splatting onto the floor and joining the puddle already forming from his sopping wet clothes. He had forgotten completely about the vast amounts of water that filled his lungs, which in turn prompted him to start hacking and coughing it up. Somewhere in the midst of this he ended up on his hands and knees on the floor, choking up the last drops onto the smooth wooden floorboards.

"That's the last time I swallow a lake." he coughed weakly, the best line he could come up with.

"Hey." a voice croaked from above him. "Don't go dying on me. That would ruin my day."

At this he got up instantly, checking on the pale necromancer as if he hadn't just been thinking of eating her, yet her condition hadn't changed at all. Had he simply imagined her speaking? No matter. There were more important things to tend to.

"Dayo?" Caelan asked, hoping she was still in the room somewhere. "What's the next task?"

"The pair of you are required. And poor Valkyrie is clearly not in any state to participate. Gracious, what on earth even happened to her leg? It appears that she was mauled by some ferocious beast." Dayo sent a stern look in the vampire's direction. "I do not tolerate the contestants eating each other."

"You were watching;" he said, voice still husky from the coughing. "you know full well your monster attacked her."

"There was no such monster in the lake." she replied with an insulted tone. "She must have created it herself, although no one has managed to create a fully-fledged lake monster before. Of all the things to imagine!"

The vampire narrowed his eyes before turning back to the young necromancer.

"You have five minutes before the next task starts." Dayo said.

"Five minutes! How can you think she'll be healed in five minutes?" Caelan cried.

"Listen here you arrogant brat!" she spat. "If not for the fact that she's so young I wouldn't have even considered giving her a chance to heal! You vampires think you can always get your way merely because of your status in the magical community, and it makes you big headed. Consider this: I am older and far more powerful than you could even dream of. I could send you into a coma so deep you'd decompose while still technically living." Dayo then took a deep, calming breath, refusing to allow herself further loss of control from anger. "You have five minutes and limited control of the dream, arrogant boy. That is all."

And as if Dayo had never been there to begin with, she disappeared. The vampire would quite happily have spent the five minutes simply being angry, but that would have been stupid. At some point in their heated discussion Valkyrie had woken up and was looking up at him.

"Did I seriously pass out?" Were the first words out her mouth. "How ditzy of me."

"You did have a lake monster attached to your leg." Caelan pointed out.

Valkyrie shook her head, "Not good enough." Then, easing her body up into a sitting position, winced as the fabric on her legs tugged on her wounds. "Damn, this better go away when we wake up. I hope Dayo hasn't seen the Matrix and decides to take inspiration from it. Mauled legs and vampire cities don't make for happy endings."

At this, the vampire knelt down in front of her and said in a very serious tone, "I would never let them hurt you."

Uncomfortable, Valkyrie cleared her throat and focused once more on her leg, frowning at the blood casually oozing out. "This is inconvenient. I don't suppose I could use the dream to heal it temporarily?"

Dayo's tinkling laugh filled the room, followed by, "I was wondering when you would figure that out." And then, as if by magic the wounds slowly but surely began to close up, followed by the fabric of her jeans knitting back together.

"I think I'll be wearing the trousers Ghastly made for me more often from now on." Valkyrie decided and hopped back upright, coughing a little but steady on her feet. "Dayo. We're ready for the next task."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Dayo said with a grin as she materialised once more.

With a snap of the magician's fingers, the vampire and the necromancer were whisked away to the new environment: just outside the town square of Isla. There were no vampires in sight as it was the creating of Dayo and she hated them. This was handy for Valkyrie, however, who had no desire to get mauled for a second time before ten in the morning.

The strange magician turned to Caelan and Valkyrie and said, "Have you heard of Hercules?"

"Uh…" the necromancer paused, mind filled with images of dancing muses, gods with flaming hair and RnB music_. 'I don't think she'll take kindly to my answer if I ask 'who put the glad in gladiator?' oddly enough_.' and decided upon, "I'm guessing you don't mean the Disney movie?"

Dayo pulled her best 'are you serious' face and pursed her lips. "No. I mean the Greek myth. The many tasks of Hercules."

"Then vaguely. I know he has to kill a lion at some point? And clean out the stables for some man-eating horses or something." Valkyrie tried, searching her mind for the legends her Dad occasionally told her. "Nope. Nothing."

"I'll recap then." Dayo sighed. "Hercules was the son of Zeus and a mortal, and Hera, Zeus's wife was none too pleased with this and tried to kill him many times, failing with each. So instead, when Hercules was an adult with his wife, Megara and children, Hera made him go insane and killed his family. And when he was himself again he was what he had done and asked a priestess what he could do to gain forgiveness from the gods. And she said that he would have to become King Yury… Yourissthi… Eurystheus's slave and do whatever he said.

'The first task was to kill a massive man-eating lion, the second to kill the nine-headed hydra, the third to catch the golden antlered stag, the fourth to catch a giant boar, the next to clean out the Augean stables, the one after that to get rid of the Stymphalian birds, after that to capture the great bull of Crete, then to capture four of King Diomedes's man-eating horses-"

Valkyrie cut in with, "I knew there were man eating horses somewhere."

"Quite." said Dayo, irritated at being interrupted. "The ninth to steal the Amazon Queen's belt, the next to steal the three-headed ogre kings cattle, and then we get to the relevant one. He had to pick three golden apples from the Tree of Hesperides."

"That's a lot of tasks." Caelan decided.

"There was one more after that. Hercules had to bring Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the underworld to the King unharmed. But that is irrelevant. The golden apples are what we want. He had to find this tree, the Tree of Hesperides, and pick the apples. But there was a catch. The tree was guarded by an immense golden dragon."

"And what did Hercules do about this?" Valkyrie asked.

"Ah, that would ruin the task! So, what I want you to do is to each pick me a pomegranate from that tree over there. You pick a pomegranate, you wake up. There is no time limit, but due to Valkyrie's injuries in the real world, you may want to be speedy as I heard you vampires like blood." And Dayo disappeared.

"Why is it that I have a bad feeling about that tree?" Valkyrie said. "Or more specifically what may or may not be guarding it?"

"Please, just don't come up with another lake-monster." the vampire begged.

"Don't have to. That aspect has already been covered."

Caelan followed where Valkyrie's finger was pointing and swore under his breath. Guarding the vast pomegranate tree was a vast golden serpent, coiled tightly around its trunk with eyes that never seemed to close. Its vast pupils were fixed on the two people hidden partially behind a building.

"I swear a serpent with eyes that never close is from a different myth." she hissed.

The vampire turned to the necromancer and whispered, "And what do they do in that one to get rid of it?"

"Well… as far as I can remember someone sang a spell to it. But, I never really bothered to learn spell theory. It seemed like a waste of time considering my strengths lie in elemental magic and necromancy where you don't use spells." She shook her head. "Anyway, even if I did know a useful spell, it wouldn't work. You have to be a certain kind of adept for that to work."

"Oh."

They both looked back at the dragon… serpent… thing. It hissed in response, tongue flickering up and down at them. Neither of them were scared of snakes, which was a good thing. But still, a serpent a good forty metres long was something neither of them were willing to engage with. Actually, scrap that thought. Valkyrie couldn't deny the fact that part of her was rather excited at the thought of fighting a monster after so many months of nothing. The lake monster didn't really count since it was underwater, she decided.

"So. We have until the vampires notice I'm bleeding in the real world. And as far as I know time is a lot slower here than in real life. Like a dream. Now, I doubt that I'll be able to use magic…" She snapped her fingers, and to her surprise a ball of fire appeared. Caelan looked a little nervous, probably remembering how last time she made such an orb he'd been smacked in the face with it. His burn still hadn't healed completely. "Ah, that's good. But could I…"

Channelling the shadows in the room via her ring, she sent tendrils of magic up into the tree and tugged on one of the plump, red fruit, plucking it from the branch and grinning until the serpent reared its head and snatched the fruit, gulping it down in one bite. Valkyrie swore and tried again which similar results.

"Damn, if only you were conscious while a vampire." She turned back, shielding herself from the serpent behind one of the buildings, her bare feet sinking into the grassed paths as they crouched. "You're still pretty strong in this form aren't you?"

"Yes, but not _as_ strong."

"That's good enough for now. So, if I can use magic… that's fairly showy and should distract it. Well, I'll see what happens. One of us will have to distract it while the other sneaks up on its head and kills it." Valkyrie soon lost all sense of humour as she focused on the upcoming fight.

"Wait, I'm not letting you use yourself as bait!" Caelan protested as he realised what she was planning.

"Hey, I'm a modern woman, so as endearing as your chivalry is, it won't work. If the only way to defeat this is me ending up with a few bruises then so be it. This isn't just about me, this is about getting Tanith back. And that's what I'm going to do." Valkyrie said before tugging the vampire close, mashing their lips together in a rough approximation of a kiss then rushed out to face the serpent, ignoring the lilt of excitement and disgust in her stomach at what she'd just done.

Just as she'd feared, her magic did little to the golden skin of the serpent, fireballs bouncing off it and shooting off in various directions. Its long tail began to unwind from the tree and shot towards her which she dodged with an arch backwards. Turning the arch into a back flip, she was soon back up onto her feet, channelling the shadows and death in the room through her ring into the shape of a large spear which she hurled at the vast snakes head. The fight had begun.

The viciously sharp end to its tail swung back round near her ankles and she leapt over it as easily as a skipping rope. That is, until it came back round again and the smooth part smacked into her stomach, winding her and throwing her back until she landed in front of the fountain on her feet. The spear hit its mark and threw the serpents head back, smacking it into the tree bark and temporarily knocking it out. Yet no matter how hard the trunk was hit, no fruit fell. No sooner had its vast golden eyes slid shut they reopened with a vengeance, fixing its gaze upon the necromancer.

Gaping at her, the snake hissed, spraying large globules of what she could only assume to be either venom, or if she was lucky, saliva. It dotted the land around them, steaming and spitting when it encountered something. Acid? Wow. Dayo knew how to make her monsters. Valkyrie allowed herself a brief glance at one of the small puddles of acid. She could use that. If her ability to shift water with her mind was still working in the dream she could possibly hurl the acid back at the snake. However, there was one problem. Most of the acid had already dried up, leaving behind only one pool that was disappearing fast.

There was barely any of it left. Not enough to cause large amounts of damage… unless applied to the correct place that is. Sneaking a few globules from the puddle and setting them into orbit around her body, Valkyrie set to getting closer to the serpent. While she'd have more than one shot, chances were most of them would miss, and even then it may not work. It was highly likely that the serpent would be immune to its acidic saliva, but it was worth a try. Now what to aim it at?

By now she was only a few metres away and decided that it was now or never. Eyes flickering to where Caelan lay in wait for the snake to be properly distracted, Valkyrie noticed him making odd gestures towards his face while mouthing something. Then it clicked. Its eyes!

Twisting around to face the beast head on, she mentally grasped the acid and flung it forwards, aiming it towards the vast, golden eyes. Most of it splattered harmlessly against its scales, but to her relief a blob the size of a marble made its way into one, a single droplet of the acid into the other.

"KYRAAAAAAAAAAH!" The serpent shrieked in pain, forcing Valkyrie to her knees as her ears pulsated with pain. She cried out too, yet her screams were drowned out by the serpent. Her ear drums felt like they were being smacked into by a series of tiny, malicious hammers, which wasn't helped by the fact that the snake was thrashing about. It a way it was both lucky and unlucky when part of the snakes body crashed into her midriff, hurling her across the square before she landed flat on her back, groaning from the pain. At least the snake had stopped screaming, yet so much pain was coursing through her body she barely noticed, and yet now she was out of the path of tails thrashing.

Somewhere beneath all the pain, she found herself a feeling a little impressed. Upon witnessing Valkyrie being thrown across the room, Caelan hadn't cried out something silly like 'Noooo!' and given away his position. Instead he was staying put and waiting until he could approach. What use would they both be dead? At least, she hoped that's why he wasn't rushing over to her side…

Valkyrie estimated another five minutes against the serpent maximum. Mentally pitting herself against it with the vampire… maybe a few more, but no more than ten. It was simply too powerful for her to fight using the current tools she had at her disposal.

It was here that Valkyrie would tell people she passed out, that Caelan dealt with the monster himself, for the alternative was something far worse than a bruised ego…

Something hidden inside Valkyrie's mind awoke and worked her way into her body like someone trying on a new boiler suit. Slowly, slowly she edged her way into her limbs, testing the muscles and ligaments until she was able to clench and unclench her fists. There was something oddly satisfying about it the thing decided. Moving ones hands. And so she slid herself up into a sitting position and stretched her arms up above her, feeling the finger and back joints pop as she pushed them. Oh, _gods_ yes, that felt _good_!

She stood slowly, testing the body gently; it would not do to pull a muscle or fall, they could quite easily break the control she had over Valkyrie. The serpent was visible and by the looks of it, blind. She would have to credit the girl, she did manage to set up a nice little scene for her. But enough of that. To work.

With a mere click of both fingers, twin pillars of raging infernos stood next to the woman, and these she sent crashing into the serpent with little concern for her team mate. Yet much to her disgust, this did barely anymore damage than the hosts. In fact, all it did extra was to turn the serpents beautiful, iridescent hide a sooty black, which, apparently, the oversized reptile didn't appreciate.

Fully uncoiling itself from the tree, it was almost as if the serpent had realised this opponent was different. The fire may not have harmed it, but that by no means meant that the snake couldn't realise she was much more powerful than a few minutes ago. Her eyes could just about pick up the vampire in the distance, waiting for an invisible signal.

_Strike_! The snakes head darted down a few metres in front of her and she dove to the side, landing and rolling behind a bench.

_Strike strike_! The bench was scattered into fragments of wood and twisted metal. But the woman was no longer there. For a second, the serpent stood poised, listening for where she was, yet its hearing was not as good as its eyesight, which had been taken away from it. It then switched to a different method coming from the holes that lay imprinted on the bottom of its jaw. It could sense her heat signatures coming from somewhere… somewhere near the fountain- _paf_!

Torrents of water smashed into the serpents side, knocking it back and down onto the floor, pinning it into a rather defeated looking position. But then, something changed about the woman, she seemed to become younger looking, weaker, and yet as soon as the serpent thought this the water came back, focusing on its face and surrounding its head with an orb of liquid.

Valkyrie fought her way back into her mind without thought of when it would be an appropriate time to come back, she just knew how disgusting it felt to not be in control of your body. It felt… _wrong_. There was simply no way to describe it unless one has experienced it themselves.

Fortunately, a little of the vast reserves of power still remained from whomever it was that had possessed her. She dug into these and used them, pulling up more of the water from the fountain, and it struck her suddenly. It wouldn't be elegant, humane or pretty, but probably the easiest method to kill the serpent would be to drown it. It was almost as if the… _thing_ that had possessed her had left some notes on her way out, signed with a kiss. And it was certainly working.

The serpent, understandably, did not want to drown. Vast coils of muscle and golden skin rushed towards Valkyrie, tail stabbing and throwing itself around to try and knock her out of concentration. Its head was pinned to the floor in the bubble of water and it was quickly growing weak, but her strength was quickly draining. But thankfully, it seemed the vampire noticed, and Caelan leapt down from… god, Valkyrie had no idea, _somewhere_… and landed on the beasts back, jerking its head back and wrapping his arms tightly around its neck to choke it. It struggled once… twice more and then fell still.

Water crashed and swept across the floor as a pair of knees fell to the soft grass under feet. Caelan hopped off the serpent and crouched down next to where Valkyrie knelt.

Being annoyingly perceptive (which he could never be when she was sending not so subtle 'leave me alone' vibes), he murmured, "What happened back there. Is that why you wanted me to taste your blood a few months ago?"

Valkyrie wiped off a trail of blood from where it had swept down her forehead from a cut, leaving a red stain on her arm. She noticed how the vampire was temporarily transfixed by this display and muttered, "I don't know," Which, really, was the truth. "I don't know… I just… I don't know."

"I got that much." he smiled, and then stood upright once more, offering a hand to the necromancer. "Come. We have pomegranates to pick."

"That's one sentence I never thought I'd hear you say." Valkyrie snorted. Caelan was on the verge of replying when suddenly, he pushed her to the side and, noticing the serpent having once last go at revenge, punched it right on the nose as hard as he could. It made a noise of disdain, then sunk for the final time. It was dead. Or as dead as something can be in a dream anyway.

They darted over to the tree, just in case Dayo had another trick up her sleeve and each plucked one of the fruit.

Valkyrie sat up suddenly, feeling aches and pains all over her body. Her back hurt, her forehead hurt, her leg _killed_. It felt like she'd been trying some strange form of power yoga in her sleep or something, which if it was the case, she decided that she would go out of her way to not do again… which was common sense, really.

A strange patter could be heard from the hall as a rather breathless looking vampire nearly fell into the living room (yet still oddly graceful in the way only they can be) and grabbed a blood bag from his rucksack. Caelan gulped down the blood in three mouthfuls before turning back to the human on the sofa giving him a slightly odd look.

"Would you prefer it if I ate you?" he asked sarcastically to which she shook her head.

With only a slight smirk, she replied, "I didn't say anything."

Shoving the empty plastic sachet into his bag, he fixed his gaze upon the window and then to her leg, and then the window again. The leg which had been bitten in the dream (well, mangled more like) was bleeding in real life as well. Thankfully it wasn't as serious, but the vampires of the town would still be able to smell it. They needed to get out, and fast, otherwise there was a high chance of one becoming lunch, and the other a living boxing bag.

Valkyrie moved to get up before wincing in pain at the movement her pyjama bottoms had on her wounds. Mentally cursing her imagination for coming up with such a stupid creature, she set to work ordering Caelan to look in her bag for a roll of bandages which he delivered quickly.

It was a race against time to leave the city and one they couldn't afford to lose. Using his vampire speed to his advantage, the bandage was wrapped and secured onto her leg in about 1.7 seconds. Probably a record for humans.

Their stuff was packed after less than a minute since they'd never fully unpacked. The only difference being that when Valkyrie looked around his house for the final time she noticed that not only were his books gone, but so were the portraits of the two people on his bookcase. She would have to ask him about that later, but for now that could wait. They had bigger fish to fry… metaphorically of course.

Red was already seeping through the bandage from when Valkyrie had walked to pack her back, which was now securely on her back over Caelan's coat that she was wearing once more to disguise her scent. Yet after she'd taken no more than three steps out of the front door the vampire had rushed back and scooped her up bridal style, running as fast as he dared towards the secret exit. SO far they hadn't seen one other vampire, but they weren't willing to take that risk.

Yet luck seemed to take pity on their earlier endeavours and the path was free, most other vampires in their homes at such a time in the morning. Pushing her through the camouflaged entrance first, Valkyrie quickly set to crawling down the narrow passageway, ignoring the pain from her leg and not stopping until she found the small cave in the cliff face. The same as where she'd placed Caelan after he'd been beaten up.

Collapsing against the cool stone wall, she simply breathed, waiting for the vampire to follow her. And indeed a few seconds later his dark head appeared, tanned skin and freckles already beginning to fade now he'd left the enchanted Isla. He sat down close next to her, his chest still and no sign of tiredness on his face.

"I think I preferred the tanned look." she teased.

Leaning his head back against the stone he grinned, "Me too."

"Hey. Caelan?" A thought suddenly struck her. "I remember how Hercules killed the dragon."

He turned to face her, "How?"

"Poison arrows."

And then in the way that only those who had shared a near death experience could, they both sniggered until it evolved into loud gasps of laughter and the human found herself on the verge of being unable to breathe. Yep. This was the side of her that Caelan liked best.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** YAY it's a week early! Just wanted to make it up to you guys! Also, just a quick note to say that I'm going to cut down on the amount that I say in the authors notes and that I'm going to be rewriting the first three chapters soon, as I reread them and they are… pretty shocking writing if I'm honest!

Thank you very much for everyone who reviews and for reading! ^^


	15. China Sorrows

"So… what are we going to do about getting the fragment?" Valkyrie pondered, less to the vampire sat next to her than herself. In their rush to get out they hadn't been able to collect the fragment, but frankly, she couldn't see a way to get it… unless Caelan spilled the beans on whether vampires could use magic or not. Not being completely dim-witted, she decided that either Caelan or another vampire he knew could still use magic, although what kind, she hadn't a clue. Of course she could just ask, but she doubted he'd tell her. He hadn't last time, but it was worth a try. "Okay. Caelan, this is getting ridiculous. Give me a straight answer. Can vampires use magic?"

Sighing, he shuffled, sitting up as if he'd been expecting the question, which he had. He avoided her intense gaze, choosing instead to focus on drops of water forming on the cool, rock ceiling. Wow, humans lost a lot of water just by the condensation of their breath. Focusing on the situation, he replied, "Not this again."

"How else are we going to get the fragment?"

"What are you going to try this time to get the information? You're welcome to try and seduce the information out of me again." he smirked, causing Valkyrie to turn away from him, hiding her face in one of her hands from embarrassment.

"Ugh. Listen; can we not just speak to each other like adults? I'm not going to be trying that again anytime soon." She frowned at the noise of disappointment he made. "I thought that you of all people wouldn't treat me like some little kid,"

"Valkyrie…" he groaned, knowing what was coming.

"But instead your hiding things. You're in no position to push people away, Caelan. You're condemned by your entire race! I'm one of the few people who'll talk to you while knowing what you are and what you did."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" His voice turned cold, distrustful, yet the necromancer was by no means done.

"I pity you for being unable to trust anyone, and I pity you for the way everyone's been towards you. But even the most disgusting of monsters have mates," Upon realising what she had said, she quickly back-pedalled before he got his hopes up at what she was offering. "While I'm not offering to date you or anything, I'll be your friend. Someone you can talk to. Because god knows you need it."

"Okay." And with that, the vampire made his way down the narrow tunnel for what he hoped to be the second-to-last time, not wanting to face her at that moment. The last time down the tunnel obviously being his return, which he desperately hoped he would have. Whatever cobwebs there were had been swept away by their recent travels and travelling down it felt almost normal, which was probably a bad thing. Feeling a sense of normality at crawling down a tunnel for ages towards an underground city of vampires where a good deal want to beat you up. Yep, that wasn't good.

Emerging into Isla was not as flashy as he would have liked it, but any showbiz would have gotten him noticed and killed. Then, taking note of his thought processes, decided that he _really_ needed to angst less. '_Note to self: think happy thoughts_!'

Evening was a strange time for the vampires of Isla. Whereas on the outside they would be slinking back to their dens or transforming into vampire mode, in Isla they would remain human for as long as they chose. Some still left the city each night, missing the thrill of the chase yet the majority that lived there did so because of the retention of human form and the bars that made it easy to access blood, and all types. Similar to human bars with their different varieties of beer, spirits and whatnot, the vampire bars offered a variety of different blood types. A positive was fairly common amongst newcomers and young vampires, O negative for those with a more eccentric taste. However the pride and joy of one particular bar was its artificially created magicians blood.

Most vampires would tell you straight forwards that magicians blood is the best of the lot. As Caelan would attempt to explain to Valkyrie in a later date, the magic it contains within every fragment of its cells gave it a unique almost fizzy taste. Almost like a buzzing. Yet since magicians were such difficult prey for a lone vampire, and vampires being lazy they tended to stick to regular humans. Until, that is, the breakthrough made by an odd magician by the name of Earnie Rightwhether, the ability to stimulate the cells of a vat of blood to replicate until donors, or rather '_donors'_ were no longer needed. He'd fallen in love with one of the bar maidens who had run one of the smaller bars, and the only reason she tolerated him living with her was through the money she made by his use of magic. Yet as such strong magic would not work in Isla, he had to 'brew' it outside and deliver it inside once a week. It may have been a revolutionary idea, but it still took ages to achieve.

Lanterns hung from the pomegranate tree and the edges of roofs to give the area more light to go on than that of the strange, ambient light. It lit the vampires faces with a soft, warm glow so unlike their usual portrayal it was almost like being in a Mediterranean town, filled with welcoming locals as opposed to underground with a bunch of leeches.

Nearby, a vampire was emerging from their home, ready to go out to the town square for a drink with her friends. Her hair was fluffy, blonde and elbow length that accompanied her dark eyes well, making them stand out like two dark punctures in her skull. A floaty, white dress hung around her body, seeming to hover and shift on non-existent air currents. She could not have been an old vampire, perhaps even younger than him? He certainly didn't recognise her at any rate. Yes, she would do nicely.

"Excuse me, miss?" Caelan called out to the woman, smiling inwardly when she turned towards his voice. He hadn't lost his touch. That was always good to know. "Sorry, hello?"

"Hello?" she looked around, trying to pinpoint his voice, and then she spotted him, her face breaking out into a grin. Caelan had a certain… aura to him that seemed to attract most women (most not counting Valkyrie half the time) that was possibly due to his broody and near vulnerable looks. Subtlety, just as he was being, she began to flirt, pushing her hair back behind her ear. "Hey, can I help you?"

"Yes. Uh, you see… this is going to sound like a stupid question, but do you know of the fountain in the square?"

"Um…" Her eyebrows knotted together as she focused on his words, perhaps more than was necessary and certainly as if greater issues were at stake as who she would possibly sleep with. "Oh! Yes, yes I do!"

"Excellent!" he grinned, and then the magic began to seep into his words. "There is an orb at the top, sealed within that is something I need. I need you to get that for me, if possible."

"Sure. Shall I just go get it now, or what?"

"Uh… probably not right this minute. If you can do it when no one will be looking. The vampire heads'll probably get annoyed at you otherwise for 'destroying heritage'." he decided.

"Aw, don't worry about me, hun!" the woman laughed, making the dress float about as if she was underwater. An enchanted dress? "So how about I meet you outside the entrance with it? It'll take me a while before I can get it for you, so you'll have to wait a couple hours. Is that okay?"

"Perfect." he grinned as the woman began to depart.

After she'd walked a few steps, she turned back to face him and said, "Although, a little pointer. Try to work on your smile. It's pretty creepy. Kind of a turn off!" And with that, she walked back in the directions of the bars. For a few seconds he simply stared after her, stunned into silence by what she'd said. Was his smile creepy? He didn't _think_ so, but just to be certain he tried his most seductive smile in one of the nearby windows and- _oh god_, she was right! That _was_ pretty creepy. _Damn it damn it damn it_. This would have to be fixed before he next saw Valkyrie. Yet before he allowed himself to go off on such a tangent, his voice of reason stepped in and although seldom heard (or listened to) he began his journey back to the passageway.

Sprinting down the narrow paths was made harder by the thin coating of water on the grass that lined the way ahead. The large waterfall at the far end of the city sent a constant veil of mist travelling through Isla and made the grass slippery, that made running down the pathways at the speed he was going pretty difficult without falling, which he certainly did a few times. There were now a number of lovely Caelan's-face shaped imprints gouged into the soil. By the time he was halfway there he'd just about wiped the mud off his t-shirt.

"So, you've figured out a way to get the fragment?" A familiar voice asked from the shadows, followed by a dark, cloaked figure. "Very interesting. I was almost certain it was foolproof. Trust me. I have tried."

Caelan's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Excuse me?"

The cloaks owner tugged down their hood, curtains of dark, silky hair tumbling down to frame a ridiculously beautiful face. Now it was the vampires turn to listen intently to the words said to him. The woman, for that is who the person was, fixed him with a small smile, and he felt his knees go weak. "Oh, don't worry about that. It'll wear off in time."

A nearby scraping sound set Valkyrie's head back straight up from where it rested on her knees. It was the first thing that alerted her to the approaching party. Something was coming from down the tunnel, and although chances were it was Caelan, it would not do to be unprepared. Quickly summoning some necromancy to surround her, she faced the tunnel full on, kneeling in the centre of the small cave and ready. Her night vision had been improving as of late, yet total darkness was a no go even for her.

The second thing was voices, which she decided was terribly unsubtle of Caelan- hang on… voice_s_? As far as she was aware they were a two man team… well, a one woman and man team anyway, but enough of this mental meandering. If she was here, then the only person that could be with Caelan would be someone she didn't know… unless of course he wasn't in the approaching party at all.

"_Please_, at least let me know your name!" Caelan's familiar voice pleaded, sounding wearied as if he'd already asked the question dozens of times before and gotten the same negative response for each. A small trickle of hope poured into her at his voice, but the fact that there was someone with him unnerved her a little. He'd made it clear that she was one of the few people he spoke too. Other than a couple of contacts for news of the outside world he knew very few people, especially in Isla "It's all I ask."

"Not until I see Valkyrie." A low, melodious voice said, and it seemed to shut the vampire up instantly, as if he was afraid of upsetting her. Wow. Whoever this person was, Valkyrie decided that she'd have to take tips from her. And yet, the voice seemed very familiar, the name on the tip of her tongue.

Caelan came out first, which surprised her seeing as whoever this person was, he evidently cared for them, and usually this meant him playing martyr… but not today she guessed. And behind him, China Sorrows of all people. She thought that she'd recognised the voice!

"China?" As cliché as it sounds, Valkyrie could barely believe her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Valkyrie! I would say 'what a pleasant surprise' but your vampire told me you would be here." The magician dusted her clothes down, looking more magnificent by the second, although it was hardly necessary. Caelan sat, awed in the corner, staring at the woman. It was somewhat disconcerting having him pay her absolutely no attention… she was so used to it she felt the loss like a blow… wait what? "I'd heard that you were looking for something, and these fragment stories seemed logical."

"Huh? Caelan told me he'd spent ages researching it…" She was confused, as far as she knew, this was rare information…

"No. It's pretty much a sort of… little known fairy tale, if you will. No one takes it seriously." A small crease appeared between China's eyebrows. "Of course, no one other than a rejected vampire desperately trying to impress uneducated young sorceresses. Frankly I'm amazed you made any progress at all."

The vampire sighed contentedly from the corner, seemingly from the sound of China Sorrows voice. Valkyrie shot China a trademark wry smile, "We're not complete failures, China."

China laughed, making tears of joy bead at the corners of Caelan's eyes. "I've missed you Valkyrie. The situation back in Ireland is incredibly dull."

"Dull? I'm missing over there! Shouldn't you all be wallowing or something?"

"That's exactly the problem. Everyone's either sulking or thinking up ideas of where you'd be." China explained.

Panic flashed across the necromancer's face, "Wait. Are they all here?"

"No. I've told them I'm away on research terms. They know better than to follow me on these kind of trips." she smirked, an oddly ugly expression on the flawless sorcerer's face. "So it's just me. Why? Were you expecting others?"

"You know what Skulduggery's like with vampires… not to mention Fletcher…"

"Ah. Jealousy issues from our teleporter? Although, I take it that your relationship with the vampire is purely business." she said, but then gave a knowing look to Valkyrie. She supposed that at some point even _China_ was a teenage girl once, crushing on stupid, impractical boys and whatnot. "And I shan't even begin on how Skulduggery would react… although we're all fairly certain that you're with Caelan at the moment, which you indeed are."

At 'Skulduggery' guilt ran through Valkyrie's body. She was being a pretty terrible person, what with leaving without telling him with a species he hated and distrusted on something he deemed a waste of time. Well she would simply have to prove to him when she returned that it had not been a complete waste of time. They already had one fragment, and Caelan had hopefully just collected the second. Speaking of which… "Caelan, you did get the fragment… right?"

There was no reply, simply a dazed sigh.

"Damn it, China, you've broken him." the Necromancer groaned.

"How about I meet you both nearby? There's a small town about… twenty kilometres away from here. I'll be waiting. Goodbye." China then gave Valkyrie a short and unexpected hug before turning and shuffling out of the cave. "Oh. Last thing. He'll be back to normal in a few minutes after I'm gone. And you," she addressed the vampire, "Stay here."

Caelan nodded as if his life depended on remaining in the cave, although as China disappeared from sight he leaned towards the entrance, deciding whether to risk disobeying orders and rushing after her or staying put. He pined after China for a few minutes, as she had predicted before coming round and giving a guilty and rather confused look to the floor.

He started, "What was-"

"Love magic. China exudes it or something. The first time you meet her you fall in love with her, but it wears off eventually." Valkyrie cut in.

"So… you were like this the first time you met her?" Ah. Darn the awkward questions. She regretted missing her vampire for a second and so raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." He smiled sheepishly at her and Valkyrie found her irritation at him melt away. Stupid infatuation. Although the mindless adoration that usually lit his eyes when he was around her returned, and she found it oddly comforting. It was always nice to know that there was someone around that you could essentially manipulate, and that was a power. And once you've got the security of power, like hell you're going to give it up!

"As I said earlier. Did you get the fragment?" Valkyrie asked, extremely curious now that her answer had been delayed. The vampire nodded, but his guarded expression told her he was still a little shifty about revealing his secrets.

"Yes. Well, I will get it in a few hours. It's being delievered."

"And did you think about what I said?"

"Of course."

"And? Are you going to tell me?" He nodded, and then, to her surprise the wall he'd been building up about the topic simply disappeared as he motioned her closer. "You're going to tell me?"

"Yes," he sighed, "So please, sit."

Realising that she was still hovering in a semi-sitting, semi-crouching scenario, she blinked, and then joined Caelan, plonking herself down on the hard soil next to him, eager to hear his story.

"Uh, so," He gave his throat a quick clear, evidently still a little apprehensive at telling the story. "Well, you know I used to live in Spain, and that I fixed watches? That that's all I've really told you about my past? That's because I can't really remember much more of it. I know that Caelan is not my name, but that was the one given to me and I cannot really think of another to use now. But something that I do remember is that I was a powerful adept, and it is because of this that I was selected."

"You were selected to become a vampire?"

"Yes." he smiled. "I guess I have not been completely honest with you. For while I _did_ murder another vampire, and I did have a large amount of dislike for them, it was not originally my idea. I was put up to it, groomed for it if you will, and conditioned until I murdered them. My powers gave me an edge, and unlike most new vampires, I had a hope of defeating him. I can manipulate minds, but it takes a while for the spare magic within me to build up, so I cannot do use it too often, as most of it is being used keeping me young," And then, with a sarcastic smirk, he added, "And handsome."

She gave him a quick cuff around the side of the head before he continued.

"So while most vampires cannot use magic, if one with very strong powers is turned, then they may show trace amounts of their former powers. This is very small numbers, probably around one in every one or two thousand. When it came to killing the guy, someone had already told him about my powers, and so I almost died because he kept his eyes averted and would not let me close enough to touch his skin, although it is only eye-contact that I need really… but I guess he did not know that, at least. I was pretty battered by the time I managed to get control over him."

"And what did you do?"

"I snapped his neck and threw him into the sea." Caelan said casually, as though telling her how to fry an egg, and although she had already been reminded of this several times on this journey, he was a monster, and monsters kill. His expression then darkened, "But the vampire who was training me, he had not told me of the consequences of murder."

"Besides the ones that usually come with it?" Valkyrie boldly offered, making Caelan shoot her a look from the corner of his narrowed eyes.

"You know what I mean. They decided that because I was still young, they would let me off. But… I'm still essentially an exile. This is going to sound stupid, and suicidal but sometimes… I kind of wish they had just killed me."

"What?" she gasped, unable to comprehend why anyone would wish death upon themselves. "Why would you say that?"

"Because I spent almost a century without any forms of contact with my own kind. Or rather, if there was contact, it would be them trying to maim me to the brink of death. Magicians were repelled by me, other than the worst of the worse, and humans, well. They can tell something is off based purely on their instincts. You don't know how truly terribly it is to be treated in such a way until you have experienced it yourself."

Valkyrie then realised the direction of this conversation, and suddenly everything clicked in her head, the reason for his obsession with her. He had been ignored or feared or blackmailed or _maimed_ for almost a century by all those who dared venture near him, and then Valkyrie had come along, and she had spoken to him, and treated him like a human. It did not take a genius to figure out why anyone in a situation such as his would soon fall heads over heels for this one lifeline to normality. A pretty young magician showing up from the blue all of a sudden, and being genuinely interested in him, well, if their situations had been reversed Valkyrie could readily believe that she would have done the same.

When she said nothing, Caelan began to worry, so he masked his insecurities with bravado, and asked, "Were you expecting something more interesting?"

"No." Which was then followed by, "I'm sorry, Caelan." She then pecked him on the lips and continued with an odd amount of maturity, "And thank you for finally telling me. But right now, we need to focus on getting this next fragment."

At this, he pulled a relieved expression and nodded. He hadn't really wanted to speak about it, and so was pleased when she was ready to put it all in the past and move on with the future. They waited the few hours for the woman to emerge with the next piece of the fragment, speaking casually about issues such as Skulduggery's new car, or the state of Irish politics at the moment. She found that he was interesting to talk to when on matters other than magic and his tragic state, and spoke well. After that, they spoke on what he would have pursued career wise if he could, and he told her that he would like to be an astronomist if there was such a position for an exiled vampire anywhere in the world. She laughed at this, and told him that she would keep him updated on such positions if and when they arose.

The vampire girl left the cave at seven pm, when the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, tinting the sky a bright orange-pink and the clouds purple. She called out to Caelan hesitantly, as if she knew of the origins of their mission, and that he kept a human with him. It was a brief exchange. The woman handed him the glass orb, and as soon as it touched his hands, the clear glass melted away, leaving only the green fragment behind in his palms. With a peck on the cheek (and a cheeky grope), the woman left. He would later discover that in the process of grabbing his butt, the woman had left him her phone number. With a chuckle, he would discard this.

"So that's the next fragment?" Valkyrie asked as she descended from the cave, suspended by pillows of air before her feet touched the ground. "Great, now we've got to hike back to the car." She added with a grin.

The walk back to the car carried an air of lightness to it that not one part of their previous journey had, although they continued to keep an eye out in case they bumped into any vampires leaving Isla. Their shoulders bumped and the conversation was easy, hands occasionally brushing due to the closeness of their walking. Okay, so maybe that was partially Valkyrie's fault, as she was wanting to leech some of the coolness from his skin, as despite it being well past seven pm, it was still warm. The car was exactly as they had left it, save for the grumpy looking Gordon sat in the backseat.

Once they were on their way, the car rumbling gently beneath them, Caelan asked, "So. Where to next?"

Had she not remembered China, she would have told him the place that held the next fragment of the anti-remnant device, but she had remembered, so she replied, "I need to meet someone in a small town nearby."

"Uh… that's not particularly helpful."

"It's around twenty kilometres from Isla, I think."

"Anything else?" he said sarcastically, before locating only one such town. "Never mind. Why are you so eager to go there?"

"I'm meeting up with someone. You remember China? The woman you fell in love with briefly?" With a snort of amusement, he nodded. "Yeah, her. We're good friends, so it's kind of important. Getting information on how everyone's been and stuff."

"Do you know where in the town you'll be meeting her?"

"That's a good point… I have no idea."

So he dropped her off in the centre of town before going to find petrol for the car, and then, she began to search for the most likely place that China Sorrows could be. And, well, there were only so many places to look…

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay, so first things first, I am so so so so so sorry about the massive delay this experienced, and also about how this chapter is absolutely tiny! First, it was revision which stopped me from writing really, and then after the exams had passed I'd just gotten out of the swing of writing. And then, as you may have noticed, I'm writing another fanfiction for Homestuck, which I've gotten into recently which is doing pretty well, so I've been focusing on that at the moment.

As you can probably tell, I've forgotten how to write these characters a fair amount, and while I cannot promise when the next chapter for this will be, as at the moment Saltwater Room is my main focus, this is not a fic that I have given up on… it just may take a while for anything to happen to it…

And thank you, if there are any of you left, for sticking with this! ^^


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